Downsizing the CEO

According to Business Week,"directors, auditors, and lawyers are more powerful than ever. That shift has fundamentally altered relations between CEOs and the advisers they depend on. At their best, these supposed guardians of shareholder value, chosen for their ability to complement the CEO and provide specific areas of expertise, were trusted advisers. At their worst, they were little more than bag carriers and sycophants. Either way, these advisers -- who were always supposed to work for the shareholders, not the CEO -- usually exercised their power as watchdogs only in moments of genuine crisis. But now the chumminess and banter have given way to a more adversarial attitude...Even CEOs who don't lose their jobs are finding that their ability to impose their will, whether it's in setting strategy or hiring a successor, has been severely curtailed."

David Henry, Mike France and Louis Lavelle argue "the new rules may initially go too far and create their own distinctive set of problems." Candid conversarions are gone. CEOs are being micromanaged by boards and now seek safe strategies rather than risk confrontations. Pay for performance is the new standard. Board independence makes it harder for CEOs to put together boards that compensate for their weaknesses. CEOs are being bullied by boards, auditors and attorneys. "The downsizing of the CEO has led, to a certain extent, to the supersizing of the advisers. That's not necessarily a cure for everything that ails Corporate America. It is a clue that successful CEOs will have to be consensus builders in the future. And should be a warning to CEOs everywhere: The age of the absolute corporate monarch, such as AIG's Greenberg, is over." (The Boss On The Sidelines, 4/25/05) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_17/b3930015_mz001.htm

Really? CEOs still seem to have the power to block the SEC from finalizing its "equal access rule." True, they are less likely to be out and out crooks and that's certainly a step in the right direction. Is the imperial CEO dead?