The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a publically traded or private held company is a tough job. It requires leadership skills, business acumen and stamina.

Leadership incorporates many diverse talents to include a vision for the future, the ability to communicate that vision and a love for people. Lacking these qualities and the integrity of character to employ them in an open, transparent and cooperative manner is the downfall of many CEO’s and their companies. My favorite book on this is the Speed of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey. (https://www.speedoftrust.com)

 Notwithstanding the impressive educational credentials of most CEO’s, business acumen cannot be taken for granted. According to investment researcher and advisor Porter Stansberry, only about one fourth of publically traded companies provide solid year over year dividend growth to the shareholder. The other 75% of publically traded companies provide diminishing dividends, no dividends or losses to the shareholder owners. For example, Uber (https://www.uber.com) recently conducted an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of stock and has never made a profit and iconic and revered General Electric (https://www.ge.com) is in an absolute tailspin. Stansberry contends that most CEO’s and executive leadership teams are just not that good.