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 Summer 2003
By: John J. Sherlock, Ed.D. (with commentaries by J.C. Mahaffey, CAE, and Andre N. Mamprin)
Executives, whether working in for-profit or nonprofit organizations, strive to help their organizations succeed amid increased competition, rapid change, and increased environmental ambiguity. John Sherlock's research suggests that the ability to learn from experience is a characteristic of executives who prosper during challenging times.1 These studies, however, have focused primarily on senior executives, not CEOs. Thus, the question: Is learning any different for CEOs?
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Uniqueness of the CEO Context
For the purposes of this research [see sidebar for research methodology], “professional context” refers to serving as CEO in a nonprofit association. An individual’s professional context is an important dimension of one’s overall context, defined in the adult learning research as personal and sociocultural factors with an influential role in the process of learning.2 Serving as CEO in an organization is a professional context that is unique from serving in any other executive capacity. The CEO, as the highest-ranking staff member in an organization, has the highest level of staff accountability for achieving organizational goals. Additionally, while other executives often have significant responsibilities in an organization, they do not match the breadth of CEO responsibilities. The uniqueness of the CEO’s responsibility and accountability for the organization’s performance produces unique power dynamics between the CEO and the staff and between the CEO and the board of directors.
CEO-Staff Power Dynamic
As the highest-ranking individuals in organizations, CEOs operate in a professional context where the power associated with their position influences the majority of their interactions with staff. Power is defined for the purposes of this study as the capacity to affect organizational outcomes.3 When the CEO talks, employees have good reason to listen. Even the CEO who has little interest in exercising power cannot avoid the power issues inherent in the CEO position. The result of the CEO possessing this degree of power is that it has real or perceived effects on the CEO-staff relationship and creates a unique context in which the CEO must “learn” how to perform.
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A Question of Relevance
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