Would You Take the Job as CEO of X?

How CEOs work with visionary and driven founders.

In my college days, I was a pretty good tennis doubles player.

In my final match, my partner and I took down the nation’s top-ranked team, who were then undefeated.

But I never had much interest in playing professional tennis. At the time, John McEnroe was the undisputed king of doubles tennis. The running joke was:

Q: Who’s the best doubles team in the world?
A: John McEnroe and anybody else.

If McEnroe had called me up and said, “Joel, I want you to be my partner,” I’d have said yes in a heartbeat.

Could I have kept up with him? Probably not.

Could he have carried me to the world’s top spot? Doubtful.

But the chance to play alongside a legend would’ve been irresistible. It’s a rare opportunity to be challenged and achieve something extraordinary.

This same dynamic applies when a professional CEO is invited to lead a company alongside a brilliant, high-profile founder/owner who remains deeply involved.

I thought of this while reading about Linda Yaccarino’s departure as CEO of X this week