I agree that “managing” organizations that are sufficiently large is probably impossible. There’s lots of failure modes, but here’s one I’ve seen: CEO has a vision, a big idea, but the heads of the actual business units have to keep the lights on every quarter and don’t have time for it, so it never happens. Here’s another: constant “restructuring” to pivot in a rapidly changing world, leaving everyone exhausted and unsure what their job is.
The thing is, that’s still the (current of past) CEO’s fault. He or she should have known that in signing up for the job, taking responsibility for things that aren’t a result of your direct actions is part of what you’re paid for. So is creating a structure that is manageable.
