All the CEOs in your example did some great work, yes, but also created a cult following around themselves. They were all shareholder darlings. Most of them are

All the CEOs in your example did some great work, yes, but also created a cult following around themselves. They were all shareholder darlings. Most of them are featured in business school textbooks as examples of how to run a company. All this kind of proves the point I'm trying to make. Just being involved in products isn't enough, not by a long shot. You need to make investors go "Steve Jobs is in charge, so the company is in good hands". If you can't do that, you may as well be a mid-level product manager or director or VP doing all those same things.