Boards fail in their duties when they allow CEOs to dominate, says Indra Nooyi
“There are many CEOs, mostly men who are Imperial, because somehow the belief is that when you become CEO, you've been anointed kind of king. That's not what people expect from the CEO. The people around them, including the board has to keep them under check. When boards allow CEOs to be Imperial, boards have failed in their duties,” said Nooyi at the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum 2022
By | SWATHI MOORTHY | www.moneycontrol.com
When companies’ boards allow the CEOs to be imperial, set the agenda to dominate and manipulate them, they fail, said Indra Nooyi, former PepsiCo CEO, on February 18.
“There are many CEOs, mostly men who are imperial, because somehow the belief is that when you become CEO, you’ve been anointed kind of king. That’s not what people expect from the CEO. The people around them, including the board has to keep them under check. When boards allow CEOs to be Imperial boards have failed in their duties,” said Nooyi at the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum 2022.
She was in conversation with Wipro Executive Chairman Rishad Premji. The three-day NTLF is being held from February 16-18. She was responding to Premji’s question about leadership.
According to her, the consequence of having imperial CEOs, who think of themselves as kings, is that the model starts to transmit itself down the chain. “So the next level behaves in an imperial way and the next level behaves in an arrogant way. Pretty soon, the company is just not a place where you want to come to work,” Nooyi explained.
Nooyi pointed out that with the world changing, companies will have to move from hierarchical to networked model, where there is no room for someone to be superior to others, and it is about competence. “So, CEOs of today have to be lifelong learners. That’s the biggest change,” she said.