The best advice my grandfather ever gave me is very relevant to how CEOs and VCs interact on a board of director level...
My paternal grandparents were happily married for 64 years. Man, that's a long time! When asked how he stayed married for 64 years, his half-joking (but only half!) answer was that when they got married they had an agreement: he would make all the major decisions and she would make all the minor ones. After a half-beat, with a perfect dead-pan delivery he would then say that in 64 years of marriage, never once did they have a major decision that had to be made!
So true for how CEOs and VCs should interact on a board level. Good VCs should early and often be giving advice, counsel, asking probing questions, passionately laying out their positions on topics, and all the other things that happen in a good healthy working relationship. And technically, the VC can often force their hand in making the major decisions. But in reality, if the VC over-rules the CEO, and actually MAKES the major decision, then that business relationship is headed for divorce. You might as well start a new CEO search immediately.
Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: fox hats | February 22, 2011 at 09:25 PM
Your granddad appeared to be a wise man. It's always the one man to make major desicions but not several.
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