Always on top. Always on top of his world. Of the world. All mighty.
Surrounded by Yes Men hailing the Sun King. Every day. Every hour.
All know their place. All nod.
In the universe of the CEO, there are no problems. Only challenges. Challenges, he handles them with verve. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. He sets the vision, defines strategies and leads the way. Always moving forward. Fast forward. Only losers stand still, allow doubt, and reflect on the past.
He is a man of steel. Does not bend, ever. But even steel has limits. When overstretched, cracks appear. And if the pressure continues, they widen. He does not feel the cracks. He stopped feeling a long time ago. The Yes Men surrounding him, trained for selective blindness, don’t notice the cracks either.
Then things happen quickly. He breaks down. The seemingly unbendable steel folds like paper, and crumbles to dust. For a moment, people still seem to see him, the CEO standing tall and strong, as if his hologram is projected. Then, the void shows itself, merciful and merciless. He is gone. Au suivant. Next.
CEOs of steel are short-lived.
“Be flexible, transparent. Handle the broadest spectrum of signals.”
Hail to the new CEO. The new CEO is made of graphene. Two hundred times stronger than steel, graphene is extremely flexible and superconductive. Moreover, it conduces better at lower intensity, can handle the broadest spectrum of signals, and is nearly transparent.
What about you, Mr. or Mrs. CEO? What do you want to be? Steel or graphene?
Wim Ottermans
Business Humanizer
Ps. This story is addressed to all people in positions of power.