CEO Loneliness

Employees misconceptions about a CEO

Evgenii Nelepko
2 min readFeb 23, 2023

I continue to explore the topic of the CEO of a company as a function and persona.

I wrote earlier here about the jobs of the CEO in early-stage startups, and my mistakes in the role of the CEO.
As a result of these posts, I described the difference between a founder and a CEO and a CEO’s main job.

CEOs often get mad at their employees if they do not convey the desire for constant improvement in the company. Looking at the situation from the CEO’s point of view, it becomes unfortunate.

CEOs are incredibly lonely people. They talk exclusively to other CEOs. The other CEOs must be closer to your GMV and revenue or a little bit higher.

They are like founders, but founders usually don’t have a shit about communicating with other founders. Founders understand other founders, even if other founders made a shawarma spot and you made OpenAI.

The other interlocutors of the CEO are shareholders and investors. Here the CEO is the slave of collective leadership. Why? Because to fend off the monthly pangs of former CEOs. That is, people who were previously in the place of the CEO and tolerated for a long time have changed their business from the protagonist in the Coliseum arena to a spectator in the front row of the parterre.

CEOs are influential people. Because not only do you have to be able to stand alone, but you have to be able to fire and hire people without long hesitation. This can’t help but reflect on the personality because the heart breaks into pieces after every firing. So a good CEO is a bit of a robot. It’s nothing personal, and you have to meet goals, swing the business, and anticipate shareholder expectations.

But the CEOs have infinite power, which they can use wherever they want. But this is counterbalanced by the fact that CEOs have an endless amount of time. The incredibly cool CEOs stand out because they can focus on the moment and get things done.

Do you still want to be a CEO?

Want to know more about launching startups?

I’m Eugene, a serial entrepreneur and startup growth guru. I write about startups, business development, and founders’ minds.

And if you don’t follow me yet — you’ll be delighted once you do.
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