[itcmcgrath]

Just to be nit-picky here, but how would being a Janitor help Tim Cook at Apple?

My point is the usefulness of "personal experience in every role" is a bit, ah, debatable?

Obviously the Janitor example for Apple is a bit extreme, but where do you draw the line?

I hazard to say your statement is only applicable for small companies. Perhaps one where every role has a strategic or tactical impact?

Going on from that perhaps a better statement would be:

"It helps to have personal experience in every role of strategic or tactical value in the company before you become a CEO. I don't think it's necessarily a requirement, but it sure helps."

That said, I'm not sure that quite cuts it either...

[viscanti]

Obviously you're taking things to an extreme (but understandable, given the initial remark you're responding to) degree. A better wording would have said something like "A CEO should know a little (or a lot) about all the c-level roles". These are the people they'll need to work with and delegate to.

Tim Cook wouldn't benefit from a more thorough understanding of the janitor's role. He would benefit from understanding operations, marketing, finance and technology. His ultimate responsibility is to recruit and retain the best people for those roles. He doesn't need to be world-class at each, but he needs to be able to identify what world-class looks like for each c-level role.