Organizational Behavior: How To Pick Your Ceo

Hiring your Pilot , the Google Way
Natural talent is over-rated, especially for sustaining organizational performance.   The system constantly needs to be tweaked to harbor a culture of talent development. This is why I would select a CEO who is a wise, yet passionate leader, who constantly agonizes over when to intervene and tweak the system, and when to get out of the way   to allow employees to seek their motivations.
When Eric Schmidt joined Google in 2001, he found that the $20 million dollar company operated like a “zoo,” primarily run by engineers and product development.1 His experience told him that the growth of the company demanded improvements in internal management. He made small changes like cancelling company credit cards to larger changes like overhauling their financial record keeping by employing Oracle software. He recognized the culture of innovation that the founders, Page and Brin had created, and attempted to create a sustainable business structure around their idea-rich business. However, he also knew when to give way to their vision and put business models to the back seat. When Google was looking to partner with AOL Online, he thought they were taking an enormous financial risk. He admits that letting that deal happen against his judgment was responsible for Google’s leap into online                     advertisement space.
Today, it is hard to argue with Google’s success. There is plenty of research tying (or untying) company’s success to high salaries. However, Alfie Kohn believes that pay is not a great motivator.   In fact, when Schmidt joined Google he invested $1 million of his own money, because he recognized that Google was “idea-rich and short on cash.”1 More than a symbol of personal dedication, this is reflective of the passion that good CEOs harbor for their companies. David Kelley’s example of constantly redesigning IDEO in his mind is a display of true passion for his work.3
This passion translated to intellectual...