DailyPost 2617
BOARDROOM OR CHESSBOARD
For whatever the detractors might end up saying or arguing, might be even with substantiation, the fact of the matter is that Altman changed the face of AI, generative as they call it now, by making it conversational. The result is for all of us to see and experience. He has become the poster boy of the AI revolution, quite importantly from the not-for-profit mode. It was presumed that mode would be ideal for AI to gain prominence and then it could be taped it commercially. OpenAI started with that premise and delivered pathbreaking ChapGPT last year.
As momentous that may be, the recent development on the company / business management side and on the leadership front, makes Altman a gamechanger, redefining the equations between Board and the CEO presumably so vividly for the first time in corporate history. Or least in public knowledge of corporate history. Steve Jobs had to struggle for long having met same fate in 1985 and was fortunate enough to get back to Apple and make an impact which he did, through the products he created one after the other. Might be Altman got the benefit of a hyper connected world.
There are many parallels and many a dissimilarity. Though Altman in back, there are many an issue which the corporate world in grappling to find answers for. The first is the firing of the founder and CEO can happen as effortlessly today as it was in 1985. We are not considering was transpired later, for the current argument. What is the job of the Board? How many directors or full boards have ever been fired in this manner. Have boardrooms become chessboards? Or is that here de-facto mandate. Boards have remained mute spectators or been a party to a litany of corporate crimes. How is the relationship decided between the Board, the CEO and the shareholders? The value that the board brings to the table, also needs to evaluated with the same lens as that of the performance of the CEO.
Behaviour and mode of communication for these two fired CEOs was officially stated as the reasons, incidents 38 years apart from the each other. But no one questions the nature of the decision making and the mode of its communication of the boards. Does being faceless and opaque provide them with real mercenary powers? They have the audacity to drop a bombshell at their whims and fancies. The intriguing fact is how do they come together so solidly to dislodge people who have delivered the world; it’s pathbreakers. The lesser mortals, the less said the better. Sam Altman’s shock return as CEO has seen the board which fired Sam Altman as nearly fully replaced. The rock-solid support of the employees has been critical.
HAS SAM ALTMAN REDEFINED HOW ICONIC COMPANIES WOULD FUNCTION IN THE DAYS TO COME?
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.