The shift was apparent. People had a stake in the outcome, and they acted like it. Ideas flowed more freely, teams spotted and solved problems earlier, and employees took pride in identifying and implementing improvements.
CEOs are struggling to find their footing these days. Their role seemed clearer during Covid, when many executives rose to the challenge of becoming inspirational figures. They led their businesses while guiding their employees through a challenging shared experience. That was the case as well for many U.S. CEOs in 2020 when George Floyd's murder shocked the nation, and employees looked to their leaders for guidance and assurance.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Jamie Dimon explained why JPMorgan Chase is spending billions more on AI. He was making a long-term bet. The same kind of leaders make when they build headquarters, factories or infrastructure that won't "pay off" this quarter but will define competitiveness for decades. It's exactly how marketers should think about and position differentiation in the eyes of the C-Suite.
The average CEO makes over 280 times what their company's line worker earns. This is more than 10 times the ratio observed in the 1970s. Looking just at the salaries and bonuses of Fortune 500 CEOs, financial executives, top university presidents, and even some directors of the larger non-profit organizations, you would think that these leaders are performing at high levels-at least levels high enough to justify their huge compensation. Unfortunately, that's not often the case.
