I'm after your real and well thought out ansers on this. For a large company like Nokia or AT&T, do you believe the CEO should LOVE the field?

I get the feeling that the CEOs of the companies in particular don't give a **** about phones and just manage the people and the money. To a degree this is fine because thats part of their job. They absolutely must manage their people well and keep the business profitable.

That said, in addition I think the CEOs need to LOVE and be deeply passionate about the primary business they run.

A Nokia CEO should LOVE cell phones and be the type of person who carries around 5 models with him and constantly want to do new things with them. THen go back and yell/praise/encourage his team to do better with specific experiences and real passion.

An AT&T CEO should LOVE networks. They should want networks everywhere and be able to go anywhere and literally play with their business as CEO to get a feel for it.

I get the feeling that these CEOs don't give a **** about their business other than it continues to pay their inflated salaries.

So, comments?

PS. I say inflated salaries not because I think a CEO shouldn't receive millions of dollars in salary, but because these CEOs are douchebag idiots.

I think they'd be able to do their job better if they love to see the positive effect that their company can do for their customers. From that motivation, they should make use of their mastery of planning, resource management and execution to realize that objective.

They need not necessarily be focused on loving the subject of the matter themselves. Overdoing that may make them more of an artist/technician than a manager.

See even that much, "I love to see the positive effect this company has on people," while a VERY good start, isn't enough I think for a business to truly shine.

As much as I hate Apple, I really get the feeling that Steve Job not only likes to see his customer's happy, but that he really LOVES the products he makes, and that drives him forward.

In that respect, its no wonder that other CEOs can't drive their company to the same success. Its because those CEOs don't give a damn about the products they make other than the profit they get, and the occasional ooh ahh factor.

Yeah, Jobs is comfortable inside his own RDF. He's his own #1 fan and evangelist.

I agree with your points, but this is Jobs v5.0 or so. In the past he has made many mistakes that even ran him out of the company that he created himself.

Some bits from his past:

The early Jobs was the artist/engineer type, he focused on making great products but made some management mistakes that didn't translate into successful company performance (read: Lisa, original Macintosh).

There was also a time when he led Pixar to huge financial success (getting Disney funding for early projects, IPO, then being bought out by Disney) while he doesn't have first hand core competency in computer animation/film making. (Ok, that one was probably a lot of luck and ungodly salesmanship + negotiation skill).

But yeah, I get your point.. at the extreme cases, these CEOs are just part of financial deals and they may be far removed from the actual product creation/production to make good decisions.

if ceo loves companys devices, well.... just look at apples antennagate. I have strong feeling of co-embarasment for Jobs...

good ceo only knows who are the best experts who can create helluva gadgets/stuff.

ceo is ceo, he has too much power for single device development...

I think the CEO should be passionate about these things: his products, his ethics, and his ability to build a company around intelligent, trustworthy people.

edit: ooo, I had to tweet that.

passion makes you blind. that's why ceo shouldn't be passionate but he should hire passionate people...

I'd choose a savvy CEO, one that knew the product, technology sector (if applicable) and how to be honest first.

How is that different than what I said?

Savvy != passionate