This applies to startups. I give good advice to the CEO. The CEO often ignores my advice, and so the startup is destroyed. The startup would have done better if we had followed my advice. I documented a case here:
I struggle with the question, "How do I manage upwards? How do I gain influence over the CEO?"
Often the problem is that there is a group of people who tell the CEO exactly what the CEO wants to hear. Some of these people are manipulative con artists, but others are folks who sincerely agree with the CEO.
So then the question becomes, "When multiple people give the CEO advice, how does the CEO know that my advice is the correct advice?"
The problems are well-illustrated in the article linked above. Does Alice have foibles? Does that make her unable to follow advice? Likewise with the CEO. Would the startup even be having so many problems if the CEO was more talented? If the CEO was smart enough to know that my advice was the correct advice then would the company be in trouble at all? Wouldn't the CEO have already foreseen and forestalled the problem from existing?
https://respectfulleadership.substack.com/p/startups-should-...
Another case here:
https://www.amazon.com/Destroy-Tech-Startup-Three-Steps-eboo...
I struggle with the question, "How do I manage upwards? How do I gain influence over the CEO?"
Often the problem is that there is a group of people who tell the CEO exactly what the CEO wants to hear. Some of these people are manipulative con artists, but others are folks who sincerely agree with the CEO.
So then the question becomes, "When multiple people give the CEO advice, how does the CEO know that my advice is the correct advice?"
The problems are well-illustrated in the article linked above. Does Alice have foibles? Does that make her unable to follow advice? Likewise with the CEO. Would the startup even be having so many problems if the CEO was more talented? If the CEO was smart enough to know that my advice was the correct advice then would the company be in trouble at all? Wouldn't the CEO have already foreseen and forestalled the problem from existing?