- “The notion of the CEO as heroic leader is one that you’ve heard so often that you’ve probably come to believe it: The CEO is the company, a heroic leader who single-handedly steers the business to success.The problem with the notion of heroic leadership, of course, is not just that it’s preposterous on the face of it. It is also corrosive to the connection that needs to exist between a real leader and the people who make the company work. Real leadership is connected, involved, and engaged. It’s often more quiet than heroic. Real leadership is about teamwork, about taking a long-term view, about building an organization slowly, carefully, and collectively.” ~Robert Simons, Henry Mintzberg and Kunal Basu, “Memo to: CEOs,” Fast Company, June 2002