Peacetime and Wartime CEOs
A decade ago, Eric Schmidt was much more than Google’s public face; as the company’s peacetime CEO, he oversaw the greatest technological business expansion. In contrast, Larry Page, the successor, was determined that Google was entering a war, and he clearly intended to be a wartime CEO. One company, two different approaches.
War and Peace
In business, peacetime refers to times when a company has a significant advantage over its competitors in its core market, and that market is growing.
- In times of peace, the company can concentrate on expanding its market and consolidating its strengths.
- A company is defending itself against an imminent existential threat during wartime.
A threat of this nature can arise from a variety of sources, including competition, dramatic macroeconomic change, market change, supply chain change, and so on.
In his book Only the Paranoid Survive, the great wartime CEO Andy Grove brilliantly describes the forces that can propel a company from peacetime to wartime.
Peacetime CEO vs Wartime CEO
- Peacetime CEO knows that proper protocol leads to winning. Wartime CEO violates protocol in order to win.
- Peacetime CEO focuses on the big picture and empowers her people to make detailed decisions. Wartime CEO cares about a speck of dust on a gnat’s ass if it interferes with the prime directive.
- Peacetime CEO builds scalable, high volume recruiting machines. Wartime CEO does that, but also builds HR organizations that can execute layoffs.
- Peacetime CEO spends time defining the culture. Wartime CEO lets the war define the culture.
Can a CEO Be Both?
Can a CEO build the skill sets to lead in both peacetime and wartime?
I believe that the answer is yes, but it’s hard. Mastering both wartime and peacetime skill sets means understanding the many rules of management and knowing when to follow them and when to violate them.
Be aware that management books tend to be written by management consultants who study successful companies during their times of peace.
Survive the War
In peacetime, leaders must maximize and broaden the current opportunity. As a result, peacetime leaders employ techniques to encourage broad-based creativity and contribution across a diverse set of possible objectives.
In wartime, by contrast, the company typically has a single bullet in the chamber and must, at all costs, hit the target. The company’s survival in wartime depends upon strict adherence and alignment with the mission.
Apple And Google
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company was weeks away from bankruptcy—a classic wartime scenario. He needed everyone to move with precision and follow his exact plan; there was no room for individual creativity outside of the core mission.
In stark contrast, as Google achieved dominance in the search market, its management fostered peacetime innovation by enabling and even requiring every employee to spend 20% of their time on their own new projects.
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