Has your chief executive officer (CEO) crafted a leadership style that centers on authenticity; that means constantly communicating with employees about the company's important issues? Does your CEO try to get across what s/he's like as a person, what s/he values (like spotless ethics, emotional maturity), and the vision s/he has for the organization? Rather than avoid the animosities, communication breakdowns, and jealous flare-ups on the CEO's executive team--as well as his or her own defects--does the CEO confront them head on?
If the answer to all the above questions is "yes," then your CEO has gotten over the CEO Disease by working with a personal leadership coach to become more self-aware and able to allow his or her leadership perceptions to evolve.
There is an old Yiddish proverb that applies to every organizational leader: "The fish always sinks at the head." The leader with CEO Disease doesn't know the smell that he or she is spreading throughout the organization. The personally coached CEO discovers what smell he or she is spreading across the corporate culture and works to make it a productive and positive scent.
A recent global survey of 5,000 executives around the world identified the top two human resource (HR) priorities of today as being managing talent and improving leadership development. According to this global study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA), managing talent will remain at or near the top of executive agendas in every region and industry for the foreseeable future. "It may soon be harder to find and keep talented employees than to raise money in an IPO," said Rainer Strack, a BCG partner and one of the study report's authors. "Many executives don't realize the serious problems they could face from a loss of knowledge and productivity if they don't start preparing today for labor shortages in five or ten years," said Strack.
Identifying and personally coaching high potential managers to improve their leadership capability provides the insight necessary to meet future challenges. If your organization doesn't have an active succession plan to train and coach management talent for the future, your Board of Directors, CEO and HR management have their heads in the sand.