CEOs

The CEO of an organization is responsible for its growth and development. They lead the strategic planning process and make sure that the resources needed to carry out any strategy are provided.

A CEO must also lead any effort to acquire or merge with another organization in order to accelerate the rate of growth, overtake competition, add capacity or capabilities, and/or consolidate the industry. 

However, joining with another organization inevitably has many business matching implications.  The two organizations usually have significantly different histories and experiences, even if they have both competed in the same market in similar ways - e.g., even if they are both hunters who have used similar strategies to succeed in a jungle market.  The cultures and practices of any two organizations can be vastly different.  This is especially true if the two organizations do not share the same archetype - e.g., if one is a ruler and the other a pioneer.  All of this can stall or seriously impede the assimilation process.  Part of a CEO's job is to make sure that people in both organizations acknowledge and understand their differences.  Another part is to lead the development of clear, effective strategies for integrating the new organization.  These strategies should be designed so that they can be implemented by all managers in all units.

To support the business matching process, CEOs need to:

1. Continuously monitor and assess both the market and the competition, especially when major changes or events occur.
2. Establish benchmarks that will show when a product or service has crossed the line into a new market environment.
3. Lead the development of a long-term strategy for continuously repositioning products and services in the market, so that the organization can quickly mobilize in response to market changes.  Mapping the evolution of each product or service - i.e., regularly plotting its ever-changing position on the archetype grid - should be a part of all strategic planning.
4. Lead all dialogue and decision-making involving the business matching process.
5. Fully understand the dynamics of every business match - i.e., every decision to compete in a particular market with a specific product or service.
6. Develop a commitment among leadership to maintain as close a match between the organization and its market(s) as possible.
7. Clearly communicate the organization's long-term strategy to everyone in the organization.  CEOs should use business-matching language to help people understand the strategic moves and adaptations that will be needed for success.
8. With leaders from HR, establish a monitoring and matching process that continually adapts the organization's personnel to market developments.  Adaptations might include training and development, hiring and/or firing, redesigning jobs, creating (and sometimes disbanding) teams, or reorganizing departments or reporting arrangements.
9. Use business-matching concepts in dealing with vendors, competitors, and customers, as well as in arranging acquisitions or mergers.  CEOs should also encourage everyone in the organization to do the same.

As they perform these tasks, CEOs need to avoid or address these pitfalls:

Terminal uniqueness
The biggest (and most destructive) trap for a CEO is believing that no other organization is truly like their own - and, therefore, no system can truly predict what will (or might) happen.  This attitude gives the CEO carte blanche to run their organization by the seat of their pants, based on what they alone are able to see.  CEOs who succumb to this temptation thus lead with little or no guidance other than their own experience.  This was the cause of death of many of the dot-coms that went under in early 2001.  Founders are particularly prey to this syndrome.

Failing to clearly define acceptable levels of profit and loss
CEOs need to identify clear indicators of when a cultural change needs to begin.  Without such indicators, decisions on things like belt-tightening, reorganizing, or additional investment in new products may be made capriciously - and, often, either prematurely or too late.

An unwillingness to see the cultural and organizational implications of a decision
Every decision and action has consequences.  Some of these will be unintentional and unanticipated; nevertheless, failing to consider the ones that can be anticipated is sheer folly.  For example, no CEO who initiates significant cost cutting should pretend that their workforce's productivity and effectiveness won't diminish as a result.

Management hubris
One common example of this is deciding that the organization is going to have the kind of culture that top managers are most comfortable with, rather than the type needed to succeed in the chosen market.

An unwillingness to recognize and accept that an organization they do business with operates as a different archetype 
This might be a competitor, a customer, a vendor, or a potential acquisition or merger candidate.

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