Is your CEO brilliant, a jerk, or both? Here’s how to tell

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Two important lessons emerged from our discussions with board members, extensive research, and experience dealing with the conundrums of multiple brilliant jerks:

1. The presence of an authoritarian trailblazer requires special handling. The traditional corporate governance principles are needed, but must be supplemented with additional practices. With an inspired and highly controlling powerhouse at the helm, boards, investors, and employees need to be ready for a different journey
2. The best actions to govern, thrive, and survive depend on the type of visionary you are dealing with. Dominant visionaries are not all the same. With some visionaries, there is a risk of getting in the way and curtailing the value they could create. With other types, complacency is a huge mistake. Left unsupervised, their behavior could destroy the company.

Our work is at the nexus of corporate governance and innovation and looks at how boards and others can best manage and work with leaders like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk and other dominant visionaries to maintain corporate control while not stifling innovation and creativity. This is the conundrum.

Marc J. Epstein, PhD was, until recently, Distinguished Research Professor of Management at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston, Texas, as well as a former professor at Stanford Business School, Harvard Business School, and INSEAD. Dr. Epstein has written extensively on corporate and nonprofit board governance, the role of boards of directors, organizational trust, and corporate accountability. He is the author of 20 books and well over 200 professional papers that have won numerous top academic, professional, and business awards. Connect with him via theconumdrumpress@gmail.com.

Rob Shelton is a globally recognized Silicon Valley–based consultant, author, and speaker on entrepreneurial excellence, breakthrough innovation, and scaling to drive rapid growth. Over the past 40 years, Shelton served as trusted partner and adviser to CEOs and senior executives at leading organizations in the valley and around the world. Connect with Shelton via theconumdrumpress@gmail.com.