Skip to content
Product cover

Should the CEO Be the Chairman?

January 15, 2005 | Jay W. Lorsch , Andy Zelleke | Strategy
Recent corporate scandals have made many U.S. boards question the wisdom of combining the chairman and CEO positions. But a knee-jerk decision to adopt the British model of separating the two top jobs without understanding the model's complexities is hardly the answer. Corporate governance across the Atlantic has its own characteristic problems. For example, although a separate chairman makes the board more independent of the CEO, the arrangement can lead to confusion regarding the company leadership. And a poor relationship between the chairman and CEO can easily lead to conflicts and power struggles. U.S. boards need independent leadership, but achieving such leadership by splitting the two positions is not necessarily a clear improvement over the U.S. model. Instead, the authors argue, for most large U.S. companies, the addition of a competent lead director or presiding director will likely strike the right balance between effective governance and leadership.
Purchase Options

Educator and Student Discounts Available. Learn more »

  BENCHMARKS  
Loading Time: Base Classes  0.0007
My Controller Construct  0.0003
Build Nav  0.0007
Controller Execution Time ( Products / Route )  0.1186
Total Execution Time  0.1193
  GET DATA  
No GET data exists
  MEMORY USAGE  
1.5551 MB
  POST DATA  
No POST data exists
  URI STRING  
store/should-the-ceo-be-the-chairman
  CLASS/METHOD  
products/route
  DATABASE:  MITSLOAN_DEV   QUERIES: 68  (Hide)
0.0003  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0013  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0011  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0003  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`carts`)
WHERE `cart_id` =  '3c30535734c28365eecd3c7432bbc5b7'
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC 
0.0009  

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS cat_id
FROM (`product_categories`)
WHERE `status_id` =  'A'
AND `url_friendly` =  'should-the-ceo-be-the-chairman'
AND `parent_id` =  1 
0.0121  

SELECT c.parent_id, c.format_id
                    FROM products AS p, products AS c
                    WHERE p.prod_id = c.parent_id AND
                        c.avail_id IN ('A','B','D') AND
                        c.type_id = 'V' AND
                        (
                            c.sku = 'should-the-ceo-be-the-chairman' OR
                            if(c.format_id = 'Certificate', '', p.url_friendly) = 'should-the-ceo-be-the-chairman'
                        )
                    LIMIT 1 
0.0002  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  1519 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '1519' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '1519'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0001  

SELECT `cat_id`
FROM (`product_categories__products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '1519' 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`product_flags__products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '1519' 
0.0001  

SELECT `sku`
FROM (`products__xsell`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '1519'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position` 
0.0663  

SELECT `products`.`parent_id`
FROM (`transaction_lines`)
JOIN `products` ON `products`.`sku` = `transaction_lines`.`sku`
JOIN `product_categories__products` ON `products`.`parent_id` = `product_categories__products`.`prod_id`
WHERE `products`.`avail_id` =  'A'
AND TO_DAYS(transaction_lines.updated_at) < (TO_DAYS(NOW()) - 90)
AND `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` IN ('249') 
GROUP BY `products`.`parent_id`
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC
LIMIT 6 
0.0002  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '361' 
0.0055  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '361' 
0.0005  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '361'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0007  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '3961' 
0.0017  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '3961' 
0.0012  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '3961'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0040  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '35' 
0.0004  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '35' 
0.0015  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '35'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0001  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '179' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '179' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '179'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0001  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '489' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '489' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '489'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0001  

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `prod_id` =  '2465' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `products`.`prod_id` =  '2465' 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`authors`)
JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id`
WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` =  '2465'
ORDER BY `sort` ASC 
0.0003  

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `foreign_key_table` =  'products'
AND `foreign_key_column` =  'prod_id'
AND `foreign_key_value` =  '1519'
AND `kind` =  'image_600x600'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position` 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `media`.`media_id` =  '745' 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`mime_types`)
WHERE `mime_types`.`extension` =  'jpg' 
0.0001  

SELECT *
FROM (`media_metadata`)
WHERE `media_id` =  '745' 
0.0002  

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `foreign_key_table` =  'products'
AND `foreign_key_column` =  'prod_id'
AND `foreign_key_value` =  '1519'
AND `kind` =  'gallery_image'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position` 
0.0004  

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `avail_id` IN ('A', 'B', 'C', 'H') 
AND `parent_id` =  '1519'
AND `type_id` =  'V'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`, `title` 
0.0001  

SELECT `c`.`format_id`, `c`.`price`, `c`.`sale_price`
FROM (`products` AS c)
WHERE `c`.`prod_id` =  '1520'
LIMIT 1 
0.0003  

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `foreign_key_table` =  'products'
AND `foreign_key_column` =  'prod_id'
AND `foreign_key_value` =  '1520'
AND `kind` =  'thumbnail'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position` 
0.0002  

SELECT `product_categories__products`.`cat_id`
FROM (`product_categories__products`)
JOIN `product_categories` ON `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` = `product_categories`.`cat_id`
WHERE `product_categories__products`.`prod_id` =  '1519'
AND `product_categories`.`parent_id` =  1
AND `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` NOT IN (1, 261)  
0.0004  

SELECT `cat_id` AS id, `parent_id` AS parent, `status_id`, `name`, `description`, `url_friendly`, `page_title`, `meta_keywords`, `meta_description`, `position`, `updated_at`
FROM (`product_categories`)
WHERE `cat_id` != 1
ORDER BY `parent_id`, IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`, `name` 
0.0005  

SELECT *
FROM (`product_categories`)
WHERE `status_id` =  'A'
AND `parent_id` =  1
AND `cat_id` NOT IN (1, 261) 
ORDER BY `name` 
0.0002  

SELECT *
FROM (`site_settings`)
WHERE `option_key` =  'announcement' 
  HTTP HEADERS  (Show)
  SESSION DATA  (Show)
  CONFIG VARIABLES  (Show)