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The Future CEO
Reason number two is that neuron networks can be smart, savvy, flexible, and prudent, but
they will never be brilliant. Neuron intelligence is the intelligence of consensus, intelligence of
the numbers. It’s not even entirely immune to group think related problems and weaknesses.
Ordinary organizations can operate based on the sum outcome of the prevailing consensus of its
member teams, but excellent organizations never will. Neuron intelligence, fuzzy organization,
virtual companies will necessarily be all roughly alike, as alike as large, heterogeneous, human
populations with global membership are. The excellent organization needs something more.
It needs to differ. The future organizations will differ in their visions.
Therefore, it will be up to the chief executive to provide that vision. Just like Henry Ford’s
vision built not only the Ford Motor Company, but the foundation of modern mass manufacturing,
Lee Iacocca’s vision turned around Chrysler, and Land’s vision built Polaroid and changed
our expectations as to when we want our pictures developed, even in the traditional, negative-and-print
based technology; in the same way most modern companies’ success dates back
to a succession of CEO’s with visions. (A vision is not necessarily sufficient condition for success,
but it is pretty much a condition sine qua non.)
So, by a simple process of elimination, the future executives of successful companies
(do unsuccessful companies even have non-anonymous executives?) will have to be visiona ries.
But what else?
As the age of information matures and we start thinking about what it will give way to, some
suggest that the coming era is that of intelligence. This will certainly be reflected in the need
for organizations to be intrinsically intelligent, a condition met by neuron network intelligence.
But translating and instilling a vision on an intelligent organization will require uncommon skills.
Networks are necessarily adverse to control and prone to uncertainty. Therefore, the future
CEO will have to be an uncommonly strong communicator. Communication skills, particularly
interpersonal, will play the key role. It’s not by accident that the majority of polled German
executives identified communication skills as the single most important characteristic of their
future employees. This attribute will not only be paramount for employees organized in network
based structures, it will be the matter of life and death for the CEO. He/she will have to infect
the organization with his/her vision, exercise control over inherently uncontrollable organizations,
guide a life form whose primary instinct is to guide itself. The only way to achieve this will
be through superb communications, negotiations, and people skills.
Intelligent organizations of the future will be highly prone to internal friction between differing
interest groups. One of the future CEO’s primary challenges will be to reconcile all these,
often opposing or contradictory, interests.
Reiterating, the key postulates of my vision of the future CEO, the following, I think, captures
the essence of the CEO’s future requirements: he/she will be first a visionary, then a mediator
(rather than a manager), a negotiator, a communicator, a people person, somebody able to tame
the unruly organization of the future, somebody sharp enough to encompass, understand, and
build upon the intricacies and complexities of tomorrow’s loosely structured and complexly
organized companies.
This is the future I am expecting, the future I try to prepare myself for; this is my version
of my personal development plan. Whether I am right or wrong we will know in a few years.
However, I must mention one more characteristic of the future, as well as the present, successful
executive: he/she is very flexible, quick to grasp what is going on and to meet any challenge.
If I, or any other executive have that, it will help us weather the challenges of the future and,
hopefully, come out ahead.
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