Searching for people motivated to make shareholder value

I am still on a search to find people who wake up in the morning excited at the thought of making more shareholder value and bottom line profit.  At every executive event I speak at I ask for nominations of people I can interview who in the opinion of the participants are motivated by such things…. Or indeed for people to say they are themselves.

 

Sure, when people own their own companies, or have taken them public, they often feel passion about these things.

 

But it is very rare in my experience to find people who are inspired by such target-setting.

 

This is a fundamental challenge for CEOs who often continue to trot out the business mantra about the next quarter, despite the fact that such language is a turn-off for most people inside the corporation.

 

Personal challenge, a fun team, achieving something worthwhile, having a life outside of work, being fairly treated and so on…. These are far more powerful than an obsession with numbers.