The cult of the CEO

As the industry's first wave of great leaders slowly disappears from view, we examine how much difference the men at the top make, and what channel bosses can learn from them

The chief executive (or managing director) is the business world's equivalent of the latter-day football manager: a heroic, visionary leader, darling of the media when things are going well; clueless, feckless and a total pariah when things are not running so smoothly. Much like their counterparts in the football world, chief executives are probably eulogised, mythologised and chastised in equal measure.

But, to labour the point, while the men (or, all too occasionally, women) in charge call the shots, they are not the ones at the sharp end of the action. They are not the ones missing open goals or sales targets. How much can we read into the cult of the business leader, when so much seemingly depends on factors outside their control? And what, if anything, can the head honchos of channel firms learn from the successes and failures of the leaders of some of the world's biggest companies?

A steady trickle of high-profile IT leaders have exited their roles in the past decade, and a few more are creeping up towards retirement age with many years in the hotseat under their belt. The industry's two most famous founder-chief executives - Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - and a number of their long-serving contemporaries, such as Sam Palmisano, Carly Fiorina and Lou Gerstner, are sadly no longer in the industry.

Others, such as Joe Tucci, John Chambers, Paul Otellini and the indefatigable Larry Ellison are now some way into their seventh decade, having spent years at the helm. It has to be asked whether the newer generation of leaders, whose history is not so closely intertwined with that of their employer, are adequate replacements.

Shamus Kelly, chief executive of VAR Portal, argues that company founders are being replaced effectively but that a new type of figurehead is needed once a business is mature and successful.

"Make no mistake: the founders were visionaries and took their businesses to an astonishing level, but those holding the reins now are probably very different types of people, needing to run a very different type of organisation to that of the founders," he said.

While Neil Stephenson, chief executive of managed services provider Onyx Group, points out that the technology industry is always liable to produce another wave of visionary entrepreneurs.

"Just look at the likes of Sergey Brin and Larry Page who founded Google; Mark Zuckerberg who founded Facebook and Jack Dorsey, who founded Twitter," he said. "These are very clever guys and, not only did they have the initial idea, they were also able to create a business from the original concept."

Selling out
But Clodagh Murphy, director of ISP Eclipse Internet, believes that for many of today's budding heavyweights, "it is a case of liquidation before legacy".

"If you look at the original IT masters of the universe such as Gates, Jobs, Chambers and Dell, in all those cases there was a leader with the desire to build a business that can change a whole industry," she said. "Their approach was inspirational for many leaders who followed, but today the predominant mindset seems geared towards building a business that can be sold. For many leaders today, exit considerations are coming first."

Clearly, whether you are setting up with dreams of becoming a multinational monolith or just the foremost IT reseller in East Anglia, there are traits for which all business leaders should strive. Most channel onlookers pick out the art of delegation as perhaps the most desirable skill. Choosing the right people to work underneath (or, perhaps, alongside) you is paramount.

Alastair Mills, chief executive of comms provider Six Degrees Group, asserts that assembling the right team is the most important task of a great CEO. He adds that team is the operative word and urges business leaders, particularly at smaller firms, to focus on assembling a cohesive unit, rather than a collection of individuals, however talented they are.

"Great leaders always employ great people. Leaders have a vision and employ the best people to manage the rest," he said. "The magic ingredient for a successful company, however - particularly for small, fast-growth, entrepreneurial companies - is the chemistry: will we enjoy working together? Do we trust each other? Too many small to medium-sized companies put big CVs and big names over these other factors that I am convinced are the foundations of a successful management team."

Power to the people
Phil Jones, country head of Brother UK, also cites "the ability to build a fantastic team" as one of three core skills he believes a boss must have. Mobilising "stakeholders - be that staff or shareholders" is also a key attribute. Jones is one of many to stress the import of a chief executive who has "the ability to articulate their vision clearly".

"[All] this must be underlined with authenticity," he added. "Steve Jobs was the epitome of the wave of success that can be created when you bring these things together - he imagined the brilliance of the future for Apple, built a successful team, articulated his vision of the business and ensured that everyone believed."

Managing to keep your eyes and ears on all parts of a business while keeping an open mind to ideas and criticism are key leadership qualities, according to Nick Potts, managing director of VAR Trust Systems.

"It is very important that you stay in touch with the business, irrespective of how large it grows," he said. "You need to be willing to listen; not only to what your customers are saying, but to what your staff are saying. You need to be willing to adapt and to take constructive criticism."

Personnel is again the watchword when looking at the most common mistakes made by chief executives. Portal boss Kelly warns against simply "hiring people you like and who are like you". While Onyx's Stephenson suggests that many business leaders can fall foul of recruiting the wrong people when assembling a senior management team.

"Wrongly promoting someone is a common mistake chief executives can make," he said. "Just because, for example, someone might make a great sales guy does not mean they would make a great sales director."

Mills at Six Degrees suggests that trying "to be all things to all men" is the downfall of many companies and their leaders.

"Mistakes inevitably come down to hubris," he said. "You have to know what you are good at, understand your own differentiators and evolve in a logical way."

Considering that HP has ascended to its position as the world's largest IT company by revenue while changing its boss every few years, often in somewhat sudden and scandalising circumstances, can we really attribute success largely to the steady hand of a skilled leader?

The vendor's last boss, Léo Apotheker, arrived following a stellar spell in charge of software giant SAP, but left after less than a year with his reputation tarnished. He would appear to be a victim of circumstance - unlucky, in other words.

Kelly concedes it is hard to answer the question of what makes a company and its leader a good fit.

"A lot of it can be down to luck," he said. "Not necessarily [being] a lucky person, but rather the timing is just right - they are in the right place at the right time with the right conditions. Naturally you can get a mismatch culturally between people and companies."

Jones at Brother agrees that finding a boss who is a good fit is essential, suggesting that Apotheker could have been the victim of a cultural divergence with his former employer.

"In Germany people tend to work on their own in a systematic way, whereas in the US teamwork is more popular and it is less systematic," he said.

"It could be that Léo Apotheker could not make the shift to the US way of working. If a leader can flex their own working style to the culture of the business into which they are going, be it a different region or a different size, they are likely to become a good fit for the organisation."

10 legendary leaders - as chosen by the channel

Steve Jobs - The Mac boss was chosen more frequently than anyone else as the industry's best-ever boss. Although several people jointly nominated the sadly departed Apple chief for best and worst ever, owing to his "nightmare character traits and bad people-management skills".

Bill Gates (and Steve Ballmer) - The Microsoft man was also picked out for driving his firm to unimaginable heights of success and dominance. In the past 11 years, his good work has been largely continued by right-hand man Ballmer

Joe Tucci - Has been in charge of EMC for more than a decade. His acquisition of VMware was labelled "a masterstroke".

John Chambers - In 17 years the Cisco boss has driven sales at the company from less than $2bn to more than $40bn.

Lou Gerstner - Helmed IBM from 1993 to 2002, reinvigorating the vendor's performance.

Gordon Moore - The author of Moore's Law founded chip giant Intel in 1968, finally leaving his post as chief executive almost 20 years later.

Alan Sugar - The famously self-made cockney led Amstrad to become one of computing's biggest names for most of the 80s.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin - The Google founders were without question the internet era's biggest business success story until...

Mark Zuckerberg - Having turned down a $750m buyout offer early in the company's life, the Facebook founder is set to take his firm public in a potentially $100bn IPO.

Michael Dell - The eponymous PC maker founded Dell aged just 19. Some 28 years later, he and the vendor are both worth billions of dollars.