CEO's Reality Check

In an interesting quote a top CEO, Carl Bass of Autodesk, reflected on his experience as he became CEO of the company. "My IQ jumped 10 points and I became much funnier," as quoted in an insightful Wall Street Journal article, A Different Animal Seeks the No. 1 Post by Phred Dvorak, 10/22/07. Mr. Dvorak wrote, "But the greater deference his employees paid to the intelligence and wit of their new CEO had a downside, too. Mr. Bass says he couldn't be as frank and critical as he had been when chief operating officer. He feared employees would overreact. "When you're CEO, what you're saying is so amplified you have to be very careful," says Mr. Bass. This same experience is one I see in countless practices. The doctor CEO is so often told they are right by staff or not given any real feed back that they begin to believe they are very smart. All attempts at humor are met with laughter. Only when some of the doctors runs into operational or valuation or transition issues is the light shown on sloppy procedures, poor financial management or other areas and then nothing is very funny. Doctor CEO's take heed. Have your practice coach provide at least an annual impartial assessment of your performance. Larger practice CEO's should consider implementing six month reviews. You'll find a lot of benefit in clear assessment and a good strengths and weakness analysis. Check out our Doctor CEO services if you want to gain an understanding of the scope of this type of service.