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The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

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Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#11

Post by its_so_on »

toomuchcoffee wrote: post #3

Sadly, the first step is to realize that (1) he really thinks he's doing the right thing -- or at least he is choosing the necessary, lesser of evils when he makes these interventions; and (2) that this impression is formed on the basis of a lot of (lopsided) data, from his PoV. By "lopsided" I mean, he's probably seen a lot of evidence that his business continues to thrive when he continually takes the reins in ever…

You and the original poster are completely wrong and misunderstanding the situation.

"The CEO founded the 30 person company, and there are no other investors- it's all his money", if true, means that he's not CEO (in the startup sense) at all - he's the owner.

"Anyone have any advice on how to tell a CEO with no superiors to let everyone do their jobs?"

Their job is to do whatever he wants. If he wants you to hire three people to do interpretive dance in front of a web cam and put it up, go ahead.

As long as he's the whole owner, you should act like you're being paid to paint his house. Whatever he wants, as long as he's paying the checks. If you can't do what he asks or don't want to at that price, quote the price you'll do it for or leave. If you can do what he asks for the price he's paying, do whatever he says.

It's his house.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#12

Post by lwhi »

nostromo wrote: post #4

Quit

I agree. Work should make you feel satisfied. If your current job doesn't do that for you, find one that does.

EDIT: However, thinking about this from the opposite position; perhaps the CEO is looking for advice regarding employees who won't take instruction?

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#13

Post by consultutah »

The easy answer is quit. If you're not inclined to do that, you can either demonstrate to him that he doesn't need to micromanage you and everything else or help him grow the business so much that he can't micromanage everything. In either case, you can't make him do anything. He owns the business; you just work there.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#14

Post by kurtpara »

lwhi wrote: post #12
nostromo wrote: post #4

Quit

I agree. Work should make you feel satisfied. If your current job doesn't do that for you, find one that does. EDIT: However, thinking about this from the opposite position; perhaps the CEO is looking for advice regarding employees who won't take instruction?

What are are making is cool, and we have the potential to get huge so I'd like to stay.

Everyone does exactly what he says, so he should have no issues with anyone not taking instruction from him.

It just sucks to leave a meeting knowing that we are doing it the wrong way and can't do anything to fix it. I want to fix it.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#15

Post by its_so_on »

its_so_on wrote: post #11
toomuchcoffee wrote: post #3

Sadly, the first step is to realize that (1) he really thinks he's doing the right thing -- or at least he is choosing the necessary, lesser of evils when he makes these interventions; and (2) that this impression is formed on the basis of a lot of (lopsided) data, from his PoV. By "lopsided" I mean, he's probably seen a lot of evidence that his business continues to thrive when he continually takes the reins in ever…

You and the original poster are completely wrong and misunderstanding the situation. "The CEO founded the 30 person company, and there are no other investors- it's all his money", if true, means that he's not CEO (in the startup sense) at all - he's the owner. "Anyone have any advice on how to tell a CEO with no superiors to let everyone do their jobs?" Their job is to do whatever he wants. If he wants you to hire th…

in other words: if you hire a personal cook you get to tell him what to cook, and he doesn't get to tell you what you should be eating instead.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#16

Post by joelberman »

Sometimes it is necessary to have that to get things going. But of course it does not scale. 30 people are not too many for one manager. When you go international and the number of employees is in the middle hundreds he will need to delegate or growth will stop.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#17

Post by toomuchcoffee »

its_so_on wrote: post #11
toomuchcoffee wrote: post #3

Sadly, the first step is to realize that (1) he really thinks he's doing the right thing -- or at least he is choosing the necessary, lesser of evils when he makes these interventions; and (2) that this impression is formed on the basis of a lot of (lopsided) data, from his PoV. By "lopsided" I mean, he's probably seen a lot of evidence that his business continues to thrive when he continually takes the reins in ever…

You and the original poster are completely wrong and misunderstanding the situation. "The CEO founded the 30 person company, and there are no other investors- it's all his money", if true, means that he's not CEO (in the startup sense) at all - he's the owner. "Anyone have any advice on how to tell a CEO with no superiors to let everyone do their jobs?" Their job is to do whatever he wants. If he wants you to hire th…

As long as he's the whole owner, you should act like you're being paid to paint his house.

Bad analogy. It's more like you thought you were hired to paint his house, but the way things ended up he was telling you how to match colors and hold a brush. All the while pointing to the 10 year-old kids sloppily painting a fence across the street saying "See? You're still in the basement mixing paint, and they're almost done already!"

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#18

Post by toomuchcoffee »

its_so_on wrote: post #15
its_so_on wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and the original poster are completely wrong and misunderstanding the situation. "The CEO founded the 30 person company, and there are no other investors- it's all his money", if true, means that he's not CEO (in the startup sense) at all - he's the owner. "Anyone have any advice on how to tell a CEO with no superiors to let everyone do their jobs?" Their job is to do whatever he wants. If he wants you to hire th…

in other words: if you hire a personal cook you get to tell him what to cook, and he doesn't get to tell you what you should be eating instead.

Agreed: what to cook, not how.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#19

Post by toomuchcoffee »

j_baker wrote: post #6

You know, sometimes it's best to leave others to solve their own problems. The executives in your company can worry about themselves. How is the CEO affecting your work?

How is the CEO affecting your work?

By driving you crazy, and making it sometimes literally impossible to get anything done for him.

Re: The CEO of my company is a micro manager - how to make it stop?

#20

Post by commanderkeen08 »

The easiest, most general answer is: data. Give him a pie chart with numbers and dollar signs. How much time is he spending on micro-managing? Calculate it. The little things start to add up. Time spent micro-managing is time not spent doing other things (growing the business).
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