CEO Society by Peter Bloom Carl Rhodes

Author:Peter Bloom,Carl Rhodes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Network Int'l Limited trading as NBN International (NBNi)
Published: 2018-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

This observation illustrates how the neoliberal promise of individual freedom embodied in heroic individualistic values is given human form in the CEO. While many of us, as workers and employees, remain more deeply regulated by a repressive corporate existence, these economic elites appear to act as they please, their potential always realised in the here and now. Success, so the story goes, has given CEOs the right to a unique freedom from having to conform to normal cultural, or even physical, constraints. This reflects the so-called ‘upper echelon theory’ of executives, a theory which proposes that it is the traits, values and abilities of top managers that are deemed to be the drivers of organisational outcomes.11 Never mind the complex interactions and skills of workers and middle managers, top executives alone are the sole organisational agents, singularly responsible for collective outcomes. The qualities associated with exclusive talent are positioned as allowing CEOs to break through any frustrating bureaucratic roadblocks on their way to corporate performance. In this 21st century corporate class system, CEOs are treated as modern royalty not just by their companies, but also by the world. The story goes that getting what they want is their hard-earned and well-deserved reward for reaching the top of the business mountaintop, leaving the rest of us to look up to them in awe and envy.

Even though such individual freedom may be positioned as an elite privilege unavailable to everyday people, there is still a profound basis for the popular appeal of the CEO. It is their apparently singular capacity to successfully ‘navigate’ an increasingly complex and cutthroat world. Even CEOs who are not renowned for adventurous endeavours outside the office can be revered for their supposed ability to take charge of their lives. They are imagined as the ultimate path breakers; people who have found the secret to determining their own destiny rather than having it ‘trickle down’ on them in ways they neither chose nor desired. CEOs are appointed as gurus for the modern age; corporate spirit guides to living an effective and successful existence. Within such an imaginary they are also a kind of superhuman mental coach who can help everyone ‘win’ in all areas of their lives, and they have developed the habits to make you, too, more effective and productive. CEOs are ‘exemplary’ in that they provide an attractive standard for others to aspire to.12 When accepted as an exemplar, they have the knowledge to allow each and every one of us to rise to the top. For those who believe, emulating CEO perfection is the way that you can become the person you always wanted to be.

CEOs represent a type of all-encompassing ‘executive lifestyle’ that can be imagined as being applicable to all of us. It is not simply or even primarily about making profit or earning a gigantic salary. The modern CEO is symbolic instead of how people are supposed to be able to achieve personal goals of maximising individual desires, and of fulfilling their wildest dreams both inside and outside the workplace.

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