CEOs: A view from the top

Fairfax Media

LONELY: A survey conducted by Unlimited magazine has discovered that it is definitely a lonely place for CEOs at the top of the corporate mountain.

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A survey conducted by Unlimited magazine has discovered that it is definitely a lonely place for CEOs at the top of the corporate mountain.

Ask a chief executive to name the hardest thing about his or her job and you will often hear how much they love it and what a privilege it is.

But it's also lonely at the top.

"At the end of the day, the buck stops with you and you have an enormous influence on a lot of people's lives. If you stuff up badly, then a lot of people will share the pain," says Tony Carter of Foodstuffs.

Clemenger Group's Jim Moser says too often he has seen people become best friends with people who report to them, and it just doesn't work. Building great relationships with people and remaining their boss is a tricky balance, he says.

Surrounding yourself with people at a similar level outside the organisation can help mitigate the loneliness, says Lesley Kennedy from Maven. But it doesn't make it any easier to make the hard decisions.

"Ultimately you need to make a call and not all of them are pleasant. That's one of the challenges," says Cisco's Geoff Lawrie.

You have to accept that you never finish the agenda, says Chapman Tripp's Alastair Carruthers. "You have to say, 'well that's the line we draw today.'"

There are other niggles too, like finding time for thinking and reflection, switching off when you're not at work, and the travelling.

"I hate suitcases and airports," says Helen Anderson of MoRST. "I often have to travel at the weekends so in a sense it's an intrusion into my private life, but it's also really physically hard."

Anderson runs a test against each invitation or travelling opportunity: "Am I really adding value to this, or am I just room meat? Is this an opportunity for someone else to represent MoRST? And thirdly, is this important enough for me to be taking time away from my family and from myself? And sometimes these things just don't cut it on any of those criteria."

Frazis says you must be able to keep a number of balls in the air. "You've got to be someone who enjoys that. People talk about the work/life trade-off and to be frank, I just don't distinguish between the two. For me it's all about life and you've got to enjoy life. Whatever you're doing, whenever you're doing it, make sure you're enjoying it."

-UNLIMITED