CEOs; Feared or Respected?

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

CEOs; are you feared or respected? Hint…being feared as a CEO is not a badge of honor to be sought after. It’s one thing for employees to have a healthy respect for you, but quite another to be in fear of you. Remember that respect is earned, and fear is imposed. Fear based motivations don’t instill loyalty, create trust, build morale, inspire creativity, attract talent, or drive innovation. If you’re a CEO who has created a fear based culture I can guarantee you two things: 1.) your employees won’t give you their best, and; 2.) they will cut-and-run at the first opportunity that comes their way. If as a CEO you believe that instilling fear in your employees is a good thing, you may be a tyrannical bully, but you are certainly not an effective leader. In today’s post I’ll share 5 ways to tell if your employees fear you…

Remember that great CEOs see themselves not as masters of the universe, but as inspirational servants, catalysts, teachers, and team builders…Again, I would strongly encourage you to think “leader” and not “dictator.”  Reflect back to your time as a student…which educators brought out the best in you? My guess is that it was not the know it all professors who lived to put you in your place and show you how much they knew and you didn’t. My suspicion is your best memories are of those teachers who inspired you, encouraged you, brought out your passion, and challenged you in a positive fashion. I would also suspect you produced you best work for the latter and not the former.

So, how do you tell if your employees respect you or fear you? After reading the above comments it should already be obvious, but just in case, review the 5 items below:

1. A Team of Yes-men: Feared CEOs either surround themselves with like-minded people, or train people to share their views in a vacuum. Either way they lose…Great CEOs value the opinions of their team whether or not said views happen to be in concurrence with their own beliefs.  
2. Lack of Interaction: Along the lines of number one above, if executives, management, and staff don’t proactively seek your advice and input then you have a respect problem. They either don’t value your contributions, or they know from experience that you’ll treat their inquiry in a belittling fashion. Over time, many fear-based CEOs unknowingly train their team to think: “Why even try if there is no upside? The boss will never go for that.”
3. Lack of Feedback: If as a CEO you don’t subject yourself to a 360 review process, then you are not earnestly looking for personal growth and development opportunities. Let’s say that you do utilize a 360 review…if all the responses are positive it is much more likely because you are feared and are thus the recipient of insincere flattery than because you are perfect.
4. Revolving Door: If you either can’t attract or retain tier-one talent, you are not an effective leader who has earned the respect and loyalty of your team…In fact, upon closer examination you’ll find that you probably don’t have a team. Sad but true…real talent won’t be attracted to, or remain engaged with leaders who operate on fear-based tactics.
5. Poor Performance:  CEOs who have the respect of their team will outperform those that don’t. CEOs who attempt to use command and control tactics without the necessary underpinnings of real leadership principles will simply not do well. If your organization is not thriving and growing, then the first thing that should occur is a long look in the mirror…Begin your triage by first evaluating your leadership qualities or the lack thereof.

Ask yourself the following question: If your employees held an election today, would you be re-elected as CEO by a landslide, or would you be voted out? Bottom line…what is rightfully earned and freely given (respect) will always outlast what is imprudently acquired for the wrong reasons (the bully tactics of fear-based control).