Ask HN: No one really wants to talk to the CEO. How to fix this?

[astartupemp]

The company in concern is a start-up that has yet to figure out a proper business model. Product development has been on for a few years and the growth metrics and revenue potential are decent. The team has grown 5x over the last few months. However, the CEO isn't great at planning and talking to people. This has created a lot of communication issues with people confused about goals and metrics and things changing constantly which is creating stress among the team. Everyone avoids talking directly to the CEO. How does one fix these communication problems?

[nautical]

Been in a similar situation .. The best way is getting 2-3 employees who are in office right from starting and talking directly to him , explaining exactly the problem . But being a CEO he is supposed to be good at talking to people . He is hard to be approached ? or he really is not good at talking ?

[astartupemp]

He is good at talking in general with business folks, talking about the vision, C-level execs and the like. Just not with normal people who work under him. So yeah, there is a mental block in approaching him due to the temper issues and also lack of clarity in what he might end up saying. People perceive talking to him as just adding more work to their plate rather then solving their problem.

[nautical]

See , I think if he is not able to handle people working under him , eventually the company is going to fall . Either he should hire people who can talk or he should be able to do the same . He needs to understand this . Rock solid initial team makes any company grow big NO doubt in that .

[krmmalik]

You have to get someone whose opinion he would respect to speak to him and highlight matters. That's most often -- in my experience, having worked with many CEO's -- a top-down process. Which means usually someone from the outside. Employees don't have much of a chance due to dynamic of the relationship.

[gus_massa]

Are they paying you? Have you considered the possibility of getting another job?

(Sorry, I have only more questions, no solutions.)

[astartupemp]

Paying, yes. Quitting is a solution, but not the most optimal one considering the effort already put in. I'll just end up writing off a few years of my career and put at risk whatever chances the product has of succeeding if I quit.

[ddorian43]

you have .. stock ?

[muzani]

Can you drop him an anonymous email? Or just pass a note to HR?