Top executives should spend less time with analysts and more time with customers and focusing on the business. At least that's what several hundred senior executions and managers we surveyed globally told us.

While less than 20 per cent say executives are spending most of their time with customers, almost 50 per cent say that's where they should be. And when it comes to time spent with investors, 35 per cent think that is where they spend most of their time, and they think that should be cut to 8 per cent!

This begs the question, what would this do to the role of the chief executive? He or she will have to become “invisible", rallying the troops inside the organisation to get them all focused on direction and back to the basics of the business.

The successful organisations of the future will be those with an “invisible CEO," one who is less seen on the nightly television business reports and spending more time with customers and internally making the business work better.

Many managers have been back at the office while the chief executive has been forced to spend more and more time with investors and analysts, if not explaining the company's direction, then reconciling internal accounting. This leaves less time with customers and with the internal management team.

We're moving to a different phase of business, where Wall Street, the economy and businesses each have to fix their own ills. This is why economic announcements have little or no effect on markets, and company reports have little or no effect on stock price.

This ultimately is good news, because each will self-regulate and self-correct, then all can be integrated again. Meanwhile, top executives will be forced to get back into the business if they have taken an eye off it, and those that haven't will have to increase their time inside.
“There's a balance needed, depending on the size and complexity of an organisation", says Steven Rudnitsky, President of Kraft Food Service and Executive Vice President of Kraft Foods. “I enjoy leading from the front lines by being with our customers, but I spend a fair amount of time, perhaps a disproportionate amount, on the inside."

Rudnitsky created internal town meetings, where a large portion of his staff would meet and he would preside, making sure everyone understands the metrics of the business and what is expected quarter to quarter.

Kevin Callahan, President and CEO of Exeter Health Resources, in New Hampshire, discovered that middle management in particular was highly frustrated because they were being put in the position of managing day-to-day with scarce resources. Once that problem was identified, the CEO consciously decided to focus internally for the same of the long-term direction of the organisation.

“The constant focus of middle management of the past was to keep the trains running", says Callahan. “We started working with the middle management ranks. I try to meet with each manager individually and listen to them. I found that a CEO's jobs are in some ways easy compared to what middle managers have to deal with."

Callahan also found that time inside was needed so that all understood the direction and strategy of the health care organisation.
“The employee group is looking for a level of intimacy with the immediate supervisor and with the corporation, which is what they feel they don't have", says Callahan. The number one factor that contributed to a lack of alignment here is communication. Those who knew the strategy were aligned, but we found that the majority didn't know the strategy.

Like Rudnitsky and Callahan, more top executives will find themselves being drawn back to the internal workings of their organisations, which involve getting internal managers in sync as well as assuring customers are totally satisfied with the products or services that company is providing.

So the companies to watch, the potential winners of the future, are those with an “invisible CEO." Because those that are invisible to outside world - the press, the analysts, the investors - just might be back at the office working, trying to improve or increase their company's business.

NFI Research is a research firm that analyses trends in business,
management and information technology. A former journalist, Chuck Martin is the author of "Net Future" and the recently published "Managing for the Short Term."

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