In Sunday’s New York Times, an article by Julie Creswell honed in on a CEO who ruled his business from afar. Sure, everyone has those days when our shoulders relax because we know the boss will be out of the office for a day or two, but is it a good thing for business and company culture when the boss is infrequently around?
The focus of the article was well-known mattress company, Simmons Bedding and the ethics of its former CEO, Charlie Eitel. Eitel, who reportedly rarely made a trip to the headquarter office in Atlanta, GA, was paid millions of dollars to run Simmons for several private equity investment companies, first Fenway then Thomas H. Lee Partners. During his leadership reign, he had some unique approaches to shake up the workplace culture. For example:
New employees at the headquarters of the Simmons Bedding Company got a little book containing 84 sayings of their boss, Charlie Eitel. Saying No. 1: ’In order to create a viable vision you must answer one very fundamental question, “What do you really want?”’
Eitel once had the company hire an artist to paint a mural representing the river of life for a strategy meeting at a resort. ...
