If you’ve ever wondered why some CEOs slowly drive giant companies into the ground, a new survey in Harvard Business Review unwittingly provides the answer. The article identifiesthe three factors that worry big-company chief executives the most. It’s a list with a horrifying blind spot that is costing shareholders billions.
According to Harvard Business School professors Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly, talent management is the top source of anxiety among CEOs who run the likes of AT&T, Ernst & Young and  General Mills. So far, so good. If you can get the right people working for you — and make sure that they are growing in the job — your odds of succeeding are a lot better. Build the wrong team, and you’re constantly paying the price. But after that, the list gets wobbly.
The No. 2 source of anxiety involves the challenges of operating in a fast-growing global marketplace. After that come the challenges of “leading a company amid shifting regulation and legislation.” Hello? These are the laments of someone who is stuck in a traffic jam and keeps honking at the car in front — rather than wondering why he or she chose to take this frustrating road in the first place.
(Photo credit: Emilio Labrador via Flickr/Creative Commons)
(Photo credit: Emilio Labrador via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Great chief executives don’t need to fritter away their careers trying to figure out a way to move 17 m.p.h. on a crowded road when everyone else is doing 15 m.p.h. The leaders who truly lead do so by focusing on the open opportunities that others miss. They fixate on growth.
It’s no coincidence that another Steve Jobs biography has popped onto the top of the best-seller lists. For all of his rough edges, Jobs knew how to retool Apple repeatedly, so that the company could make the most of amazing new markets in music and mobile computing. He got growth right — and that counts for a lot more than stressing about how to win the next lobbying battle in Brussels or Washington.

Tired of Steve Jobs comparisons? The case for obsessing on growth can be made just as powerfully by looking at some much less famous CEOs. I just pulled up a list of top-performing stocks over the past five years, curious to see what factors might have contributed to their success. Here’s the list— and some conclusions that can be drawn from it. I’ve thinned out small-cap companies — where big run-ups may reflect short-term speculative tastes — in favor of larger capitalization companies where there’s more likely to be a lasting change in fundamental performance.
First, many of the biggest gainers are pharmaceutical companies that picked important diseases to battle — and made headway. Among them: Pharmacyclics, Akorn and Medivation. I’m sure these companies have regulatory issues to deal with, as well as global complexities. But that’s not the main event, if you’re a CEO trying to build a great company. Picking big projects and putting the right people on them is the essence of the job.
Second, some standouts got rolling in industries where fast growth isn’t the norm. Their managers and leaders saw opportunities that others missed. Think of Chipotle in the fast-food sector, Under Armour in clothing, Extra Space Storage in commercial real estate or Monster Beverage.
Finally, some leaders have the ability to create entirely new industries — with all the rewards that come with. Netflix is a case in point.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos once observed that it’s easy to squander your whole week working on things that are urgent, instead of what’s important. The prime case in point is regulatory issues — which look urgent but can largely be left to the general counsel or the head of government affairs. Growth may never seem as urgent. But over time, it’s far more important.