BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

The risks of cult business figures on

a pedestal
1 Warmer

a. Discuss the following questions with a partner or in small groups.

• What examples can you give of business

leaders that have become cult figures?
Scan the article for more names.

• Do you think famous business leaders

deserve lots of attention? Why?

cult = extreme admiration for someone or

something / a religious system in which people
worship a particular god, person or object
figure = someone who is important in some way

2 Key words

a. Write the words from the box next to the definitions below. Check your answers and your
understanding of the words by using the same word to complete the example sentence
below each definition. Then read the complete article to see how each of the key words is
used in context.

authentic   authority   embrace   inspire   leadership   middle managers

1. the position of being the leader or being in charge of an organisation

One day I want to be a manger, so I am taking a course to improve my

skills.

2. people who are in charge of parts of an organisation and have less authority than the most senior

managers

Most hope to become directors one day.

3. the power to make decisions or tell people what to do

Intermediate

The CEO has the most in a company.

4. accept and include something ________________________

While there are more digital currencies available, not everyone has

 them.
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5. real, not false or copied

It is important that you have your own style as a leader.

6. give someone the enthusiasm to do or create something

Her story really me to apply for the position.

all-powerful   
challenges   culture   critics   empower   governance

7. give someone more power to do something

They want to managers to make more of their own decisions.

8. something that needs a lot of skill, energy and determination to deal with

The CEO’s team faces many this year.

9. the process of controlling / running an organisation

A major change in the of the company is needed.

10. having complete control over everyone or everything

We all disliked the director because he acted like our leader.

11. a set of ideas, beliefs and ways of behaving of a particular organisation or group of people

It took me a while to get used to the corporate of my new workplace.

12. someone who does not like something and states their opinion about it

Some have written negative articles about his leadership style.

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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS
Why business leaders should not become
cult figures
STRUCTURES ARE NEEDED THAT PREVENT CEOS FROM BELIEVING THE SYCOPHANTS OR STAYING
TOO LONG
ANDREW EDGECLIFFE-JOHNSON
1 Bill George thinks that we can attribute everything
from George Floyd’s murder to Vladimir Putin’s
invasion of Ukraine to failed leadership. That is a
provocative assertion from the former Medtronic chief
executive turned Harvard Business School professor
who has spent 20 years advising everyone from
CEOs and generals to ambitious middle managers
on how to lead.
2 George, who has sat on the boards of Goldman
Sachs and ExxonMobil (among others), has just
put out the latest in a series of books in which he
has tried to guide those in authority to embrace
“authentic leadership” to inspire and empower those
they oversee.
3 In True North: Emerging Leader Edition, he and
co-author Zach Clayton call on a new generation
to find their “North Star” — their purpose — and to
bring values and moral courage to the challenges
they face.
4 It is the kind of thing that countless careerists
browsing airport bookstores will lap up, and from
which many more will recoil. There’s a market
for quotes from Gandhi, Churchill and basketball
coaches, or diagrams of suited figures climbing
mountains while arrows point to words such as
“crucibles”, but they are not everybody’s cup of tea.
5 What is notable about George, though, is how alert
he is to the downsides of putting managers on
mountaintops. After a recent conversation with him,
what stuck with me is the need to give as much
Intermediate
thought to how to build effective governance in
organisations as we do to what makes an individual a
leader worth following.
6 George agrees without hesitation, for example,
that our obsession with leadership risks creating
all-powerful bosses unchecked by meaningful
governance.
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.
7 The “adulation” of CEOs was already a problem
back when Jack Welch was running General Electric,
George notes. (David Gelles, a former FT colleague,
has accused the once-lionised Welch in a recent book
of “breaking capitalism” in his 20-year tenure.)
8 George worries about “cults” forming around business
leaders, especially when it comes to founders such as
Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. “Leaders get caught
up in money, fame and power,” he warns.
9 We are fascinated by corporate leadership. But does
that obsession come at the expense of corporate
governance, the less exciting business of ensuring
that there are checks on any one individual’s power in
a company, and different, challenging opinions around
the boardroom table?
10 Governance is the G in ESG, but it is hard to argue
that environmental, social and governance investing
has killed off the cult of the CEO.
11 The age of ESG has certainly pushed boards to
review their composition and monitor a wider array of
risks. But it has not changed the imbalance of power
between directors and the chief executive.
12 Particularly in the US, too many CEOs also
chair the board, letting them pick the supposedly
independent directors who will determine their pay
and their longevity.
13 Board members, in turn, still spend too much time
worrying about earnings, George argues. They should
instead be asking more questions about company
culture, what employee and customer surveys are
showing, and whether the CEO is surrounded by
“yes men”.
14 George was once threatened by a Theranos
executive after he questioned Elizabeth Holmes’s
leadership before the collapse of her blood-testing
company. It reminded him of the dangers of leaders
having too few “truth tellers” on their teams.
Continued on next page
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15 The prolific publisher is arguably a contributor to our
leadership obsession but George is also a critic of
corporate megalomania. His studies of other CEOs
persuaded him that their performance deteriorated
after the first decade, so he set himself a firm 10-year
limit while at Medtronic, and he thinks many boards
have been too weak in enforcing such limits.
16 We also need diverse boards with strong lead
directors (including former chief executives) who pay
attention to whether their CEO is listening to critics
and developing the next tier of executives, he argues. 20 “I think for a lot of CEOs you’ve reached the mountain
Authentic leaders do matter to organisations — but
so do structures that prevent them from believing the
sycophants or staying too long.
18 It is too much to ask for George’s prescription to
prevent the next police killing or revanchist war. But
there are lessons in it for CEOs, boards and the
people who advise them.
19 There is also a reminder that leaders who stay too
long may be driven as much by insecurity as by
megalomania. Asked about how difficult his peers find
it to stop being the boss, George returns to the image
of the executive mountaineer.
top, you’re at the pinnacle of your power and it
looks like a long way down the other side. It looks
like a cliff.”

17 It’s easier to sell a book on leadership than a book

on governance: we all aspire to bring out our inner
Ernest Shackleton but few of us want to read about
corporate checks and balances. Similarly, most of us
can name the CEOs of Tesla or Goldman; few of us
know much about their independent directors.

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, September 22, 2022

© The Financial Times.
All rights reserved.
Articles republished from the Financial Times.
Intermediate

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3 Understanding the article

a. Are these sentences True or False according to the information in the article? Tick (✓) the
sentences that are true and correct or rewrite any that are false.

1. Bill George thinks that we can attribute most social problems to failed leadership.

2. George worries that business leaders are so idolised that certain “cults” have formed
around them.

3. Board members are more worried about employee happiness and customer satisfaction
than earnings.

4. George was once threatened by a company executive after he questioned their boss’s leadership.

5. Books about governance are more popular than CEO biographies.

b. After reading the article, complete the summary with words from the box. There are three
extra vocabulary items.

authority    cults    empowering    governance    inspiring
independent    leadership    power    yes men

Bill George has written a book about authentic 1. . In his book, he

describes how important it is for organisations to have effective 2. in

place for their leaders. He thinks it is dangerous that 3. are forming

around famous business leaders and that some chief executives have too much power. Many CEOs

are surrounded by 4. “ ” and not enough “truth tellers” and critics. They

need to be advised by 5. directors who are not scared to set limits

when these are necessary. He also thinks that many leaders stay too long because they love the

6. it gives them.
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4 Business language

a. Find these phrasal verbs in the article and match them to their meanings.

1. prevent from a. publish a book, magazine or newspaper

2. put out b. stop, get rid of or destroy something

3. kill off c. want to achieve something or to be successful, especially in your career

4. aspire to d. develop and show a quality that you have

5. bring out e. stop someone from doing something

6. be driven by f. be motivated by

b. Complete the questions with some of the phrasal verbs from task a. Then discuss
the questions.

1. Who the best in you?

2. What do you be in ten years’ time?

3. What might you achieving your goals?

5 Discussion questions

a. Discuss these questions.

• Which business leaders do you admire?

• Do you think most CEOs and founders have too much power?

• How can companies control their leaders?

• Do you agree with the writer that business leaders should not become cult figures?

6 Wider business theme – horizontal management structures

a. Read the description of horizontal management structures below.

In a horizontal or flat structure, there are only a few layers of management. This usually makes communication
Intermediate

better and quicker, and employees can be more independent. They may feel more motivated, but there aren’t
as many opportunities for them to move up in a flat structure.

A hierarchical or vertical structure is the opposite of a horizontal structure and has many more layers
of management.
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b. Choose a company you know or would like to work for. Research the following:

• Does it have a horizontal or vertical management structure?

• Who are its influential leaders?

• Who or what controls the leader’s actions?

• Who are the lesser-known leaders?

In your opinion, would the company benefit from a restructuring in management? Why (not)?

c. Produce a poster, an infographic or presentation slides with your findings and present it to
the group.
Intermediate

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