HOW TO BE A CEO

HOW TO BE A CEO

True Story

Learning to be a CEO is not an easy task. However, I give credit to two CEOs who taught me two ways to go about it. The western approach emphasizes strategy, marketing and targets. The eastern approach is one of cleaning machines. Both appeared to be concerned with people, but I noticed that cleaning machines got better results.

When I joined the car tire factory, the CEO called us in for a "black tie" meeting. "Black tie" was another word for "senior management". He gave us a talking to, and a dressing down that indicated that if things did not change soon, we would all be fired and better managers hired. This was long before trumps program was aired on TV. He had hired me as one of his new managers to show how serious he was. Six months later, nothing had changed. The marketers had marketed. The producers had produced, and the sellers had sold. Nevertheless, the revenue took a slight dip.

The directors sent the first CEO packing and brought in a new CEO. We all survived, but silently wondered for how long. The second CEO held one meeting with us, the top brass. He asked us two questions and issued one directive; "What is our business?", "Making tires" we answered. "Where are tires made?", "in the factory" we said. "From today, we will all take turns to clean the factory machines every day". We, the black ties, left the room stunned. Some of us had never been to the factory floor before. The CEO led the way by cleaning the machines several times a week. All this cleaning made us feel meek, but we did get to meet a lot of new people on the floor.  Within six months, production tripled, sales tripled and revenues rose exponentially.

The first CEO sounded in control. But what we didn't know then, was that his job was on the line. I never got to know the second CEO by name, because the first time I met him was the last time I talked to him and I left the company before I could master his unusual name. All I have is a picture that reminds me that the easiest way to improve performance is to clean machines.

Allan Bukusi