In 1991, Fortune magazine published a terrific article entitled, Secrets of Great Second Bananas. The article talks about the special chemistry some of the great COO’s have had with their CEO’s and in particular, how effectively they complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
What jumped out at me at the time, and why it is still one of my favorite leadership articles, is that in each example, both parties truly recognized and valued the contribution of the other as critical to their own success. As Frank Wells, former COO of Disney said about his boss Michael Eisner, ”It isn’t some boss presiding over everything. It’s just a fight to find the right idea. If we have any culture at Disney, it’s that the best idea wins.” Constructive conflict. Passion, not personal. Or perhaps, simply that two heads ARE better than one. Note: Updated to correct link – hopefully it now works
Tags: CEOs, COO, Leadership
It would be interesting to see what happened to some of those Top-Banana/Second-Banana pairs since 1991. How many of those partners led their companies to success, even up to today’s challenging times? How many bananas split?