John Decker - CEO: Mastering the Corporate Pyramid

CEO

Mastering the Corporate Pyramid

John Decker

Copyright 2016 by John Decker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Decker, John C., author.

CEO : mastering the corporate pyramid / John Decker.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9781440840166 (hardback) ISBN 9781440840173 (ebook) 1. Chief executive officers. 2. Executive ability. 3. Leadership. 4. Career development. I. Title.

HD38.2.D4272016

658.42dc232015031279

ISBN: 9781440840166

EISBN: 9781440840173

20 19 18 17 161 2 3 4 5

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I am fortunate to have four shining lights in my life. All four illuminate and inform in different ways what I do and why I do it.

My mother, Elnora Decker, is a completely good person and by her example inspires everyone around her.

Anne, my wife, partner, and friend, is both a leader and my greatest supporter.

My daughters, Rachel and Nicole, are successfully balancing the demands of family and working to make the world a better place, one leading an environmental nonprofit and the other combating domestic violence and teaching English as a Learned Language.

I am always inspired by and thankful for each.

I have been fortunate to work with nearly 2,000 executives and CEOs helping them crystalize their career direction, uncover and land new opportunities, and succeed in their chosen adventures. I have learned something new from every one of them. They have also been kind enough to introduce me to their friends and associates, significantly expanding my range of resources for this book. If there is anything useful to you in these pages, it is because of them. I sincerely appreciate their relationships, help, and wisdom.

A number of people deserve special thanks for their assistance:

Misha Charles, Charter Board Partners

Ed Crowley, Tim Sullivan, Harvard Business School Publishing

Keith Darcy, former Executive Director, Ethics and Compliance Officers Association

Eric Davies, Davies and Murphy Group, Public Relations

Robert Decker, PhD, and Suzanne Serpas Decker for incisive advice

Mike DiFranza, President, Linkable Networks

Peter Gleason, President, National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD)

Robert Gough, PhD, MDL Partners

Doug Lynch, Chief Academic Officer, CorpU

Raj Sisodia, FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business, Babson College, Cofounder, Conscious Capitalism, Inc., coauthor, Conscious Capitalism

Norman Strate and Den Taylor, Strategic Insights, LLC

Alexia Taxiarchos, Investor Relations Manager, Hasbro, former Boston Chapter President, National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI)

Jim Wall, Board of American Management Association, former International H.R. Principal, Deloitte

Dave Wenhold, Partner, Miller-Wenhold Capital Strategies and former President, American League of Lobbyists

Mark Steinwinter, Director, IT Services, Unitarian Universalist Association

Paul Wing, PhD, President, Planning & Research Services

Maureen Wolff, President and Partner, Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc., former Chairwoman of the Board and Director, NIRI.

The following individuals also deserve special note:

Jeff Allar, Ray Allieri, Charles (Chuck) Bauer, Steve Bogiages, Doug Brockway, Bob Brody, Romeo Catracchia, Darryl Canfield, Jamie Cornell, Wally Creek, Alan Crunkleton, Michail Curmi, Alvaro Diez, Greg Fields, Fil Firmani, Bill Hewins, Robert Holland, Paul Hovsepian, George Keches, David Kuttler, Jed Lindholm, Mike Lorelli, Bill Mackin, Gami Maislin, Jim Micali, Mark Norige, Michael Parks, Tom Pavilon, David Pendergast, Mark Pope, Bernie Prusaczyk, Pat Rezza, James Sampel, Greg Shortell, Paul Stimson, Michael Stier, Ted Stone, Charles Stuppard, John Sullivan, Mike Umana, Andrew Vineyard, David White, Bob Willis, and Steve Wishner.

Thanks to my associates at MDL Partners:

Tom McNeil who provided time and a flexible schedule

Teri Kowiak for many creative ideas

Lynne Miller for keeping my schedule as organized as possible

Kelly Hopkins for her editing assistance

Melody Martin for her social media expertise.

Also thanks to Hilary Claggett, Senior Editor, Business and Finance, ABC-CLIO/Praeger/Greenwood for her insightful advice, guidance, and support. She obviously has done this before and is truly an expert. Thanks to John Murphy (President, Venture Management Associates) and Devra Jacobs, literary agent, for leading me to Hilaryclassic networking in action.

Last but certainly not least, my wife, Anne, for her support, patience, suggestions, and advice during the very long incubation and birth of this book.

It takes a village to raise a child. As you can see in this case, it took a small army to build this book. I am not a detail-oriented record keeper, so I apologize beforehand to anyone whom I have inadvertently omitted.

There are 1,000 CEOs of Forbes Global 1000 companies (duh!), give or take a few at any given moment, and about 500 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Each typically has a president, COO or other number two executive, and an additional 8 to 10 direct reports; a total of roughly 15,000 senior executives at the top of the corporate pyramid. Assuming 1.5 billion workers globally, the probability of reaching this pinnacle is about 1 in 100,000, better than the odds of winning millions in the lottery, and better than the odds of becoming a professional athlete (but probably not as much fun). If you also consider the large and growing number of significant private companies, where median CEO income is over $360,000, the odds are even better.

Odds at 1 in 100,000 are not great, but the rewards are clearly significant. The media is delighted to point out the compensation and perks of senior executives: multimillion-dollar base pay, extraordinary bonus programs, lucrative stock packages, and exceptional severance agreements (with or without underlying performance). The average U.S. public company CEO earns 380 times more than his/her companys average wage earner. There is also the corporate jet, limousine and chauffeur, multiple residences, access to private events and venues most of us cant even imagine, and fawning assistants who cater to every need. Ill take some of that.

What the media rarely talks about are the other benefits and opportunities: to shape the strategy and direction of the organization; to galvanize a company to efficiently and effectively meet real consumer, business, and societal needs; to provide employment to hundreds or thousands of individuals and support for their families; to provide financial rewards to investors; to focus part of the companys resources on directly supporting communities and not-for-profit social causes. The world needs more effective and enlightened CEOs and leaders who can deliver these benefits.