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b'It\\u2019s one thing for CEOs to make \\u201cdifficult decisions\\u201d when their own skin is on the line. Some may argue those aren\\u2019t difficult for many CEOs as many CEOs put \\u201cself\\u201d first when it is their own weakness or blind spots that led to circumstances around the difficult decision. \\n\\n\\u2022\\tFor example, having to reduce employee headcount because a large customer announced they will no longer use your under-invested in product or service. \\n\\u2022\\tHeavy employee cuts due to mass customer defections because your product or service is no longer relevant in a dynamic market. How many times have we seen that?\\n\\u2022\\tI would argue those employee layoffs are easy decisions for most CEOs because if those actions aren\\u2019t taken companies will disappoint investor expectations and if that were to happen once or twice investors would clamor for a CEO change.\\n\\u2022\\tIBM under CEO Ginni Rometty and Microsoft under former CEO Steve Ballmer are two examples of the above where customer markets moved away from IBM (Saas/Cloud) and Microsoft (mobile, search, cloud). Each company was slow to react had multiple restructurings and continue to pay the consequences for decisions made and note made. years ago. \\n\\nMore difficult decisions for CEOs - ones that take real courage of conviction - are the decisions that won\\u2019t be popular with investors in the near-term. However, as CEO you believe those decisions will pay significant dividends in the long-term. \\n\\nRemember in years past when investors would complain about Jeff Bezos/ Amazon investing in distribution centers and fulfillment capability? Investors were angry because near term profits were going to be swapped for near-term investments and future growth & profitability. Bezos took the long view \\u2013 something that investors of all shapes and sizes rarely do \\u2013 and was right. Today the Company can do no wrong - whether it\\u2019s producing original content; creating Amazon Web Services (\\u201cAWS\\u201d)- which is the largest and fastest-growing service of its kind; acquiring Whole Foods. Bezos/ Amazon made decisions prior to the Company becoming a Wall Street darling that pay off enormously today. I recall that Amazon\\u2019s push into content wasn\\u2019t hugely popular with investors early on and today Amazon is a leader in OTT content and I believe AMZN will distance itself from Netflix and others over time. See our earlier podcast about the subject of original content. So, there\\u2019s a reason why Jeff Bezos has a 100% CRScore over at CEORater.\\n\\nSpeaking of Netflix, founder CEO Reed Hastings and the Company have done a great job of not caving to investor short-term demands. Recall when Hastings and the Company faced investor pressure when Netflix wanted to push into digital content, believing it to be the future and to not invest in its DVD business. \\u201cWhy\\u201d? investors asked. The DVD business is profitable\\u2026 Hastings of course was right, OTT was the future and is the \\u201chere and now\\u201d today. There was pressure at the time from Carl Icahn\\u2019s group who owned a large stake to sell the company to Microsoft or some other larger tech company believing Netflix to be to small to pursue its OTT strategy. Hastings of course was correct. \\n\\nThese are but two examples of CEOs who had the courage of their convictions to not cave to short-term pressures. There are many other examples on a smaller scale, inside and outside of the technology industry where founders and CEOs had the courage of their convictions to do what they believed was best for their Company in the long-run, despite that path running in the opposite direction of the investor community and occasionally other stakeholder groups.'