I've managed people, I knew how to do their jobs in addition to my own, or at least enough about their jobs to know what questions to ask about them. I've ofte

I've managed people, I knew how to do their jobs in addition to my own, or at least enough about their jobs to know what questions to ask about them. I've often posited that many issues at large companies would be solved if the VP and SVP level folks were down doing the 'grunt' level work from time to time - like your VP of customer care should be on the phones one day a quarter, your VP of manufacturing should work the line once a quarter and so on. It's pretty easy to say from on high "well, how hard can it be, they don't deserve that much!" when you've never done the work - it's a whole lot harder if you have and do from time to time. The CEO, needs to be on the floor, and needs to understand every aspect of how the company does business, if not that (like for very large companies like GE and Tyco), at a minimum the division president level does. Being a CEO is more than just sitting in an office making strategic decisions, it's also having enough of a fundamental understanding of how your business works to know when you're being fed bullshit - you only get that by going out there and doing.