Do CEOs matter?

Unlike men, CEOs are not all created equal. Whether it’s due to national culture, industry, personality and timing, captains of industry or public service run the gamut between powerful leaders or symbolic figureheads. INSEAD Professor of Strategy Guoli Chen draws on nearly two decades of research into chief executives, leadership teams and corporate strategy to illuminate the factors that determine CEO impact, and how such impact manifests in corporate activities and performance. A narcissistic CEO, for instance, will engage in vastly different mergers and acquisitions and corporate social responsibility compared to an executive of lesser ego. Chen also sizes up increasingly prominent members of the C-suite such as the chief financial officer and the chief sustainability officer. But whatever the power of any one person, as Chen tells it, few can live up to the “romance of leadership”. Read more: https://knowledge.insead.edu/strategy/do-ceos-matter-16456