Dan Bigman, Chief Executive, June 25, 2018
When boards are in awe of founder CEOs, bad things can happen. Just ask former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
If Holder was to sum up the board’s role in the cultural meltdown at Uber that almost derailed the company, it is that directors gave too much deference to founder/CEO Travis Kalanick. This is something, he says, that boards need to pay particular attention to in an era of superstar founder/CEOs and unicorn valuations.
“It used to be that the board might either tolerate bad behavior, or publicly support a CEO while privately chastising him relentlessly. Regardless, he or she would stay,” said Davia Temin. “More recently, however, given the outsized attention to serious CEO misbehavior, boards really have little choice—they must react, and act, quickly and decisively.” […read more]