Recommended Reading - CEO Blandness Banned, ReputationXchange.com

Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, who writes the ReputationXchange blog and Weber Shandwick’s chief reputation strategist, put together a clever blog post today on the need for visionary CEOs. She focused on the need for leaders (CEOs included),

… to step out of the shadows and speak up.

She goes on to briefly discuss a recent article in the Economist entitled, The cult of the faceless boss . The article,

… advises leaders to be bold, not bland. In another line that hit home, the writer says: “These are people who have created the future, rather than merely managing change, through the force of their personalities and the strength of their visions.” Less managing and more leading.

While not fully in favor of celebrity CEOs, I do agree that CEOs must lead by example and remain vocal to help their companies, guide their employees and work to improve the overall reputations of leaders which has been so damaged over the last few years. Check out the ReputationXchange blog.

Recommended Reading - Kings of the Jungle, Barron's

Barron’s recently put out its annual list of the 30 most respected CEOs worldwide. This year’s list saw a number of changes from the previous year both in terms of additions and deletions. Many of the names that left the list saw their career fortunes take a turn for the worse, e.g., Sir Fred Goodwin of The Royal Bank of Scotland and Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric. The list is fun reading.

Recommended Reading - Mean Street: Spare a Prayer for the CEO

Evan Newmark wrote a piece on the WSJ's Deal Journal blog that is worth a read.  Here is a taste of what Newmark wrote,

... But spare a prayer for the CEO. It is tougher than you think to be a CEO. What goes through the mind of the CEO isn’t just about money and power. It also is about the burden of failure.

When thousands of people are depending on you, that is a heavy burden. You don’t want to let your employees, shareholders and board down. In failure, you do.

Just look at Chuck Prince and Jimmy Cayne. Broken men...

If interested check it out.