Who’s Going to Stand Up to the CEO When Excellence Is On the Line?

Just a situation that came up this week. Michelle is the managing editor. Dan is the CEO, and does quite a bit of the writing. Dan turns in an assignment to Michelle. Michelle doesn’t think he hits one of the required points hard enough. Dan comes back and says, essentially, “I covered that here and here. Why don’t you think I hit it hard enough?” At this point, what is the outcome?

A. Dan is the CEO, so Michelle backs down and lets it go.

B. Michelle is the managing editor and she’s not convinced. Her job is to make sure the content is excellent, so CEO or not, Dan must go back and find a way to hit the point harder.

We’re glad to say that the outcome was B. That’s how we operate here. But have you faced situations like this in your company? And if so, what was the outcome? Would one of your team members stand up to the CEO in order to make sure standards of excellence were met? What would happen if he or she did? And if you’re the CEO, would you encourage members of your team to stand up to you in a situation like this? (And would your day-to-day behavior affirm for them that you mean it?) Visit the North Star Marketing Content web site at www.northstarwriters.com.