The spouse that roared

According to a survey by Adecco, 40% of CEOs say that the opinion of their spouse matters most to them when making big business decisions.

So, not the CFO, the CMO or the CTO. Not their strategists or even their personal financial advisors. It’s their WAGS and their HABs.

Listening to some of the noise around this research, many people reckon it’s a good thing because spouses tend to offer objective advice, and are less likely to be blinded by office politics or the influence of personalities. Talking to Business News Daily, the President of Adecco Staffing US, Joyce Russell, said:

You look towards your spouse as the one person that will always have your best interest at heart, and in many cases, the spouse has watched the progression towards the top, so he or she understands the variables at play. A spouse can be someone to discuss ideas or decisions off of without judgment or agenda. If you’re in a partnership with someone, you hold their thoughts and opinions very highly.

Presumably she had to run the quote past her partner first.

I once worked with a Chairman who would never make a same-day decision on any important issue. The HRM I worked with at the time soon saw why. ‘It’s because he won’t commit to anything without talking to his wife first,’ she explained. ‘She’s the real power here, and she doesn’t even sit on the board.’

Is that off-the-grid sway a problem? Probably not – a good CEO will be subject to any number of influences, most of which won’t be on the payroll. (You might as well banish them from reading business blogs or attending conferences as discourage them from talking to significant others.) But you equally have to hope that the spouse has their head screwed on properly. If they’re a Lady Macbeth type, say, with an agenda that’s personal rather than corporate, prepare for some lively arguments around the big table.

If there is an issue, maybe it’s the fact that CEOs seem to have so little faith in their corporate infrastructure, despite often paying squillions of pounds for the advice it generates. And that’s not to mention the coaches or mentors who are often employed to give the same type of objectivity and fresh perspective that CEOs are seemingly finding elsewhere.

Anyway, here are some examples of bad spousal advice. They’re a little biased towards wayward wives, but you’d be better off blaming society, rather than us, for that.

• Lady Macbeth. Personal ambition resulting in regicide. And death of self and husband. Extreme badness.
• Nancy Reagan. When her husband Ronald was the most powerful man in the world, she brought in a woman called Joan Quigley to be the ‘White House astrologer’. Astro-illogical.
• Imelda Marcos. Ruined her husband’s reputation, and probably finances, by amassing more than one thousand pairs of shoes.
• Wendi Deng. Her relationship with hubby Rupert Murdoch soured after allegations of affairs with Tony Blair and Google’s Eric Schmidt.

And finally, this from David Dudon writing on the site theCEOadvantage:

As much as the CEO’s spouse should not underestimate her role, she must also understand the limitations of her role. The owner of a business in my industry was forced to seek medical treatment out-of-state for several months. During this time, his wife stepped in as CEO. She had absolutely no experience in this realm, and it showed. Without consulting her husband, she formed a partnership with a competitor of their largest customer. When that customer caught wind of the deal, they cancelled all orders and placed their business with other suppliers. Not long after, the new partnership with the competitor proved to be a total bust. Eventually, the $100 million business closed.

Lesson? Don’t replace the CEO with her/his spouse. Unless, perhaps, you’re talking about Hillary Clinton, but that’s another story altogether.

About the author

Andrew Baird

Andrew is the CEO of HRville. He is also Employer Brand Director of Blackbridge Communications, Editorial Director of Professionals in Law and an associate of The Smarty Train. Previously, he was the MD of TCS Advertising.