CEO to HR: "You are simply only here to advise me..."

Hi Blair

This (IMHO pretty arrogant) statement is it seems to me wrong as regards the ‘none of your business’ assertion: in that it appears to ignore / deny the existence of any corporate governance.

A CEO usually of course does have responsibility to run the company, but for example if it really is a limited company, that will be on behalf of the Bosrd of Directors of that company, and ultimately on behalf of its shareholders.

It’s a bit like the captain of a ship - for example if the captain of the Concordia is running the vessel corporate and all who sail in her onto the rocks, then of course it’s your responsibility. Or if you find out that the captain is acting unlawfully then it’s your responsibility also to bring them to justice.

None of us are omnipotent Gods ( even if some CEOs might think and act as if they are ).

I agree that at the extremes there are occasions when things need to be escalated but I would suggest these are pretty rare and in the normal run of things it is far more about opinion and judgement and on those occasions support functions are there to give their professional judgement and advice but the CEO is there to make any decisions under the power delegated to him /her by the Board / Owner.

We indeed as professionals under our codes and professional responsibility have an obligation to shout out very loudly when the captain is steering the ship onto the rocks. But if the Captain is choosing to steer a route we simply do not like or one where we would prefer to go a different sunnier route then we should make our representations, advise, recommend and try and persuade but ultimately its the Captains decision (depending on the corporate governance) to choose the most appropriate route - there is rarely just one.

I think in this example its about a lack of any respect for the HR function and any understanding or appreciation about what a proper people strategy well executed can do for the business. Its also potentially about an arrogant or not connected HR function failing to understand the direction of the business and failing to help move the business in that direction. The CEOs comments speak from frustration for me as well as arrogance.

I agree that at the extremes there are occasions when things need to be escalated but I would suggest these are pretty rare and in the normal run of things it is far more about opinion and judgement and on those occasions support functions are there to give their professional judgement and advice but the CEO is there to make any decisions under the power delegated to him /her by the Board / Owner.

We indeed as professionals under our codes and professional responsibility have an obligation to shout out very loudly when the captain is steering the ship onto the rocks. But if the Captain is choosing to steer a route we simply do not like or one where we would prefer to go a different sunnier route then we should make our representations, advise, recommend and try and persuade but ultimately its the Captains decision (depending on the corporate governance) to choose the most appropriate route - there is rarely just one.

I think in this example its about a lack of any respect for the HR function and any understanding or appreciation about what a proper people strategy well executed can do for the business. Its also potentially about an arrogant or not connected HR function failing to understand the direction of the business and failing to help move the business in that direction. The CEOs comments speak from frustration for me as well as arrogance.