Comments

If a CEO was successful in one company, do you consider outsource him/her? How many CEO’s are stuck with tasks that can be made by Operation Managers? Moreover: create a knowledge based firm that outsource creative CEO’s for small and medium enterprises that can not afford to have them more than one week per year. It is enough to deliver a vision and a strategy for the following months.

Posted by Nicolas Erdody at November 11, 2004 7:48 PM

I'm not sure the debate is about 'quiet' or 'loud' so much. I also remember in your Tomatoes rant saying you'd prefer an egomaniac over Collin's quiet.

I was in at a presentation last week where I was seated coincidentally in a table with mostly venture capitalists.

One made the observation that it seemed the most successful technology CEOs were egomaniacs. But his firm preferred to stay away from working with egomaniac entrepreneurs and he wondered if he was leaving money on the table with that policy.

I said not all large tech companies were run by egomaniacs and off top of my head thought of John Morgridge, the original CEO and now Chairman of the Board of Cisco.

That's when another VC hit on the crucial distinction - there is a big difference between someone who is driven to win and someone whom is driven to be right.

Last week I also saw Joe Kraus, former founder and CEO of Excite and now CEO of JotSpot, speak and was very impressed. I'd say he wasn't quiet, but neither was he an egomaniac. I intend to blog more about that presentation, but I'd say it was more of a self-assured confident presence that didn't need a lot of banging and clanging of pots and pans to get attention. Perhaps presence is the key word.

Posted by Evelyn Rodriguez at November 13, 2004 3:53 PM