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In order to be persistently successful, people and organizations need to adapt continually to their environment. This requires inform- -ation from the environment. The more active and open the feedback loops, the more effective the adaptation and change can be. Few leaders have truly open and honest feedback within their organizations.

 

CEO disease: not seeing the impact a leader’s mood has on the organization. 

Symptom: when the leader has near-total ignorance about how his or her mood and actions appear to the organization.

The term "CEO disease" comes from the book Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press 2002). The term was originally coined in an article in Business Week by John Byrne in 1991.

The higher up in an organization a leader goes, the less accurate his self-assessment is likely to be. The problem is a lack of candid feedback.

As one CEO expressed it, "I can’t put my finger on it, because no one is actually lying to me. But I can sense that people are hiding information, or camouflaging key facts, so I won’t notice…they aren’t telling me everything I need to know."

Sometimes there is fear in sharing information due to a leader’s commanding or pacesetting style. People do not want to be shot as the messenger. Many subordinates and peers want to appear upbeat and optimistic and do not want to be the one to rock the boat by delivering negative information. Whatever the motives, the result is a leader who only has partial information about what’s going on around him.

This may be true for other leaders within the organization, not only for the CEO. There is a natural instinct to please the boss, resulting in a widespread tendency to give positive feedback whenever information flows upward.

Lori Link

Executive Coach

Lori is committed to helping her clients achieve both personal and professional mastery. Over twenty years of successful Human Resources experiences have provided her a unique and diverse perspective on organizational challenges of all kinds. Her corporate background includes General Electric, UCCEL Corporation, PHH, and FirstUSA.

Lori assists CEO’s, executives, entrepreneurs, sales people and professionals from diverse industries to clarify their vision, eliminate personal roadblocks, implement action plans, and achieve success. She partners with her clients to achieve both personal and professional goals to ensure synergistic solutions and a balanced life.

Professional Certified Coach * Member of International Coach Federation, Coach University and CoachVille * Certified Behavioral and Values Analyst * Master Instructor with The Institute For Advanced Assessment Studies

For More information

Call 972-394-7111 or

E-mail: coach@resource-link.com