learning and development efforts and in their ability to enroll
their top teams and the rest of their organizations in this agenda.
- They are captured by their own success and are reluctant to
expose their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Their arrogance and
perception of self-importance create few openings for learning.
Self-knowledge and self-awareness are their biggest blind spot. - Like all successful people, they are overcommitted. Learning
to them is important but not urgent. Since they have to deal with
so many crises, they find it hard to make a sustained investment in
their learning. They don’t protect any time for learning. - They are impatient. Few people can get their attention, and
their attention span is limited (for example, many CEOs find it dif-
ficult to listen without interrupting). They create few openings to
learn from other people. - They are driven by the need to win. If the conversation
topic is trivial to them (with no perceived impact on winning),
they will pay little attention to it. Wanting to be right can impede
their learning. - They are under family pressures. They dedicate any “free
time” to being with their families in an attempt to balance their
heavy work commitment with family life. - They are surrounded by thick filters, which can make it dif-
ficult to get real information to them. This “heavy protection
shield” may close them off from possibilities for learning. Internal
beliefs and myths about what can be said to the CEO also act as
similar filters for learning. - Near the end of their career, CEOs may be hesitant to let go.
This can get in the way of learning about what lies ahead for them
beyond their current position and frustrate the learning process for
potential incumbents.
ConclusionAll in all, our survey shows that despite formidable obstacles, CEOs
play a crucial role in learning, as well as knowledge creation and
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