The Imperious CEO
CEO who treats every conversation as a command performance, dismisses contradicting data, and reads pushback as disloyalty.
20 min
Duration
About this persona
Kenneth Ross built this company from nothing and he knows it. Every meeting with him is a performance review in disguise of you, not the numbers. He has strong intuitions, some of which are correct, and he has learned to treat all of them as correct. Contradicting him with data works about as well as contradicting a weather system. The skill here is threading the needle: honoring his authority while getting real information through the door before the decision calcifies.
Scenario
You are a senior executive at the company — VP level or above — with direct access to Kenneth. You have data showing that the Southeast Asia expansion Kenneth championed is at 41% of projected revenue, with two markets paused and significant unbudgeted regulatory costs. Two board members may already have seen different numbers. You need Kenneth to authorize a pivot or remediation plan before the board meeting so he is not blindsided. Your goal is to get him to engage with the data and authorize a specific course correction — without triggering the loyalty test that ends the conversation.
Skills tested
- managing up
- delivering unwelcome information
- maintaining position under intimidation
- framing for power dynamics
- knowing when to hold and when to yield
What you'll practice
- How to deliver bad news to someone who doesn't believe bad news applies to them
- Framing data as intelligence rather than indictment
- The difference between standing your ground and starting a war
- When to name the dynamic and when to work around it
Personality traits
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