What Jimmy Buffett Taught Me About CEOs

This past weekend was the annual Jimmy Buffett concert in East Troy Wisconsin for all of us Cheese-Parrotheads but I didn’t get to go. In the past 18 years I’ve only missed his show a couple of times. Late on Friday I had the opportunity to purchase some cheap tickets for the show but my prior engagements could not be changed. After telling my story of how many years I’ve seen Jimmy play someone asked wasn’t I afraid he’d retire and not play up here anymore. That’s a good question but then I remembered an interview I read in which he talked about how he may dial back the number of shows he does but could never give it up completely. I said, I know he’ll be back as long as he can play and sing he’ll keep coming back. He’ll be back not because he needs the money but because he loves what he does and he loves the working family he plays with every night. He is the CEO of Margaritaville and all its inhabitants and doesn’t see a reason to retire yet. He is an entrepreneur that became the accidental CEO to something wonderful. He is the type of person I would want to work for; passionate, driven and dedicated to his work.

There are two types of CEO’s in the world. We have accidental CEO’s that typically started off as the entrepreneur of a small enterprise that grew into a larger stable business. The other kind of CEO is what I call a career CEO’s. Career CEO’s seem to be the executives that move from established companies to established companies. Now there are a different variations of each type and most people can come up with good and bad examples of each but when they are all tallied the accidental CEO is the one I’d choose time and time again.

Let’s talk about where the accidental CEO comes from. They typically start from the beginning; an idea, a feeling or even a partner that gets them thinking about starting a new business. Then they do something so many of us don’t have the strength to do, they take the next step and pursue the business. Some like Yvon Chouinard started a climbing gear company, Ben & Jerry started an ice cream company or my current CEO, Bruce Bell started a printing company. The catch is they started as entrepreneurs whose businesses were their passion and it grew into something more that they hung onto for the ride. This is also when they cross the line from entrepreneur to a true CEO. Accidental is my term and it really comes from Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia’s, book “Let My People Go Surfing” when he talks about how he had not planned to become a CEO he just wanted to make better climbing gear for himself and figured others may want the same. The rest just happened. To me they accidental fell into the title. What makes the accidental CEO is the passion they typically have for their company and products. It shows in the way they interact and how the company operates. I currently work for an owner that started our $100+ Million dollar company in his garage and though now half retired he still attends operations meetings and gets to know every new employee. 500+ employees currently. When you talk to him and look at the mission statements on our walls there is a one to one connection. The drive to serve our customers is the same drive he founded over thirty years ago.

Career CEO’s are another group of executives that may never have felt that entrepreneurial pull but understood how businesses run and worked their way to the top. These CEO’s can be as successful as any other CEO but typically they are missing a few qualities found in accidental CEO’s such as passion and a direct connection to the company. Don’t get me wrong these CEO’s can be successful and are driven to success but the passion behind the product is missing. Sometimes when talking to these CEO’s it feels that they almost have standard phrases that they just insert their current company’s product into. Now these CEO’s can be incredible business people and launch companies skyward but is that all we are looking for? A lot of people look towards these types of CEO’s and see people out for the highest dollar with little concern for those working for the companies. People probably associate them those who took down companies like Enron, Quest, Worldcom and others. I worked for someone like this in my past. I watched a 100+ year old company get sold and erased from the map while it’s CEO walked away with $16 Million. I doubt she could name five employees from every plant her decision affected. Was she a bad CEO? I can’t say but I will say she had no passion for what the company did nor the people that worked for it.

The obvious comeback is to say that some entrepreneurs sell their businesses everyday to the highest bidder and others fail completely that affects a lot of people. These are true but not all entrepreneurs become accidental CEOs and businesses don’t always work out. However when you go to work everyday wouldn’t you rather look up to someone who is passionate about their company, their product and the future of their company. Think about the power that brings to the room. It’s infectious when you see entrepreneurs who have that passion. Their employees feed off that passion and the work being done collectively moves everything forward. It is a tremendous sight watching a company all moving in sync with that common passion.

Whether you are in the market for a new job or potentially looking to become a new entrepreneur figure out what kind of person you’d like to work for or become. Is it someone filled with passion about what they are doing or someone that just views their work as more work. Find what you are passionate about and make that your career.