Accountability is really important

In my last post, I commented that I believed that a CEO must lead by example, and that a CEO needed to seek out his team members as much as they needed to seek him or her out.

So, I was rather pleased when I read this Corner Office article by Adam Bryant whose latest interview was with Dan Ruch, chief executive of Rocketrip, a business travel software company.

See the article HERE

The interview really spoke to me about CEO accountability. Mr. Ruch commented that “Accountability is really important. You are accountable to your team, and part of accountability means being responsive. So it’s not O.K. to not respond to an email.” I wholeheartedly agree with this perspective.

Another key component for Mr. Ruch is to give an ownership stake to everyone. He recognizes there is an administrative cost and burden to doing that, but as he says, “What matters is the emotional attachment, the empowerment that employees feel when they own a part of the company.” Quite frankly, I’m not sure I agree with this point. I believe giving equity in a small business is less valuable than setting up a profit sharing plan where everyone gets to share in the success of the company.

I do admire Mr. Ruch’s perspective on hiring which is to always hire someone who is smarter or better than you at your job. And a corollary to this is to construct a team that genuinely likes being together. It certainly helps the CEO whose job among other things is to build the right kind of culture for the Company’s overall success.

Thanks to Veronica Rao of Boucher & Co, who helps me gather my thoughts as succinctly as possible. Many thanks to Theresa Phan of Boucher & Co whose excellent graphics always accompany my posts. And as usual, I welcome your thoughts and comments.