5/6     I'm inclined to believe that having a CEO as chairman of the board or
        really on the board of directors at all is not such a great idea.
        Yet nearly ervery company has this.  Some of this are bif stock holders
        and could get a seat without any outside support, but are there
        reasons that it's a good idea to have the CEO on the board? Just
        curious if there's a different perspective on this.
        \_ "I started this company, and I get to vote however I want to vote
           like 10X raise for all the executives."              -CEO
        \_ A more beginner's question: What's the difference between chairman,
           president, and CEO?  Thx.
           \_ CEO: a leech you would love to get rid of but doing so would
              be detrimental to stock values. Case in point, Larry Ellison,
              Bill Gates, etc.
           \_ Chairman: chairs the board, part time job at best
              CEO: represents the company, talks to investors, banks, the media
              President: runs the company on a day to day basis
              Other's may have a different defn, but that is what I have seen.
              \_ 1. What does "chair the board" mean besides, I guess, driving
                    the agenda in board meetings?
                 2. I thought it's the COO that runs the company on a day-to-
                    day basis.  No?
                 Thanks again.  -- PP
                 \_ 1) The board represents the owners/shareholders interests,
                     while
                      the CEO represents their selfish interests of ego, fame
                      and $.
                      We have a cult of the CEO in US. Separate CEO and Chairman\
                      more
                 \_ 1) The board represents the owners/shareholders
                     interests, while the CEO represents their selfish
                     interests of ego, fame and $.  We have a cult of
                     the CEO in US. Separate CEO and Chairman more
                     common in Europe.
                    2) Depends on company. All corporations have a charter.
                       "operations" may not be all of "running the company",
                       which
                       may not be all of "leading the company", which may be
                       separated
                       from determining best strategy to maximize shareholder
                       value.
                       Ford has executive chairman and vice-chairmen, some of
                       whom have
                       real responsibility for sourcing strategy, design, etc.
                            \- there ws actually a study about "superstar
                               CEOs" and under performace ... i forgot what
                               they correlated to ... airtime or magazine
                               covers etc but it was pretty negative. dunno
                               how they addressed regression to the mean tho.
                               \_ It's not difficult to show that most CEOS
                                  in the US don't do jack. The bigger question
                                  is what can we do about it... nothing.
                    2) Depends on company. All corporations have a
                       charter.  "operations" may not be all of
                       "running the company", which may not be all of
                       "leading the company", which may be separated
                       from determining best strategy to maximize
                       shareholder value.  Ford has executive chairman
                       and vice-chairmen, some of whom have real
                       responsibility for sourcing strategy, design,
                       etc.
                       \_ yet they still make inferior cars