"I question him, jab him, and occasionally give him ideas. I have the luxury of not having to actually do any of the things I throw into the discussion. I couldn't be off-the-wall when I was CEO, and now I can be."
The paragraph above was the response by Grove to a question asked about if he gave input to the CEO of Intel (INTC) that succeeded him.
While Grove was known for having the strength to step outside the company and look at things in a very objective way, it may surprise some that he said he "couldn't be off-the-wall" as a CEO.
Another thought to keep in mind when considering Grove's comment, is he's said in that past he's not willing to take as big of risks as some CEOs that followed him. So what may have seemed extremely risky to him, may not have been to someone else.
Still, many people write about the disruptive types of things they think should happen in a company, because in all honesty, it sells a lot of books. But when you get right down to it and you look at the great managers of companies, they are disruptive, but it's a controlled disruption, not a tearing apart of the company that some off-the-wall ideas can produce.
This doesn't mean we should quench the free flow of ideas, but we do need to understand and recognize the difference between ideas with potential and those that are just wacky.
I know at this point someone could bring up the history of ideas being called nutty and impossible, while eventually being proved right, and that is true.
At the same time, there's been far more nutty ideas that are completely impractical and destructive in the negative sense that should have been disgarded quickly.
I like what Grove says in that he knew the parameters of being the CEO versus being an outsider just throwing his ideas around. As a CEO he has the responsibility to make sure the ideas he signed off on had a legitimate chance of being successful with the least amount of potential damage to the company.
Other Andy Grove Resources:
Andy Grove's Rational Exuberance
The Digital Age . . . driven by the passion of Intel's Andrew Grove
The History and Influence of Andy Grove
Andy Grove enters new post-Intel role as activist capitalist
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