The Isaacs Effect

After an exhaustive search, Entain selected Gavin Isaacs as its new chief executive. It’s got Jon Bruford considering what it takes to be a good CEO.

Gavin Isaacs’ appointment to the hotseat at Entain seems to be that rare thing that makes pretty much everyone happy. Why is that so unusual?

Good leadership is a really difficult thing to define, probably because we fundamentally all want different things from other people.

But most of us will see a Churchill, a Lincoln, a Zelenskyy and say, ‘there’s a good leader’. We’ll also all probably agree broadly on what makes a bad leader, but the reality is not nearly as absolute as we would like to think.

What makes a good leader?
I was mulling over this after Gavin Isaacs’ appointment to the top table at Entain was announced. I’m a huge fan of Gavin, I find him to be excellent company and a very knowledgeable and witty person. He’s also overseen some of this industry’s biggest-ever deals, but remains approachable and open, and in that respect he is pretty unique.

Excellent company, approachable and open
I believe Gavin to be of a similar ilk to Walter Bugno, someone that recognises that it’s far more important to build a great team and to recognise their excellence than to blow their own trumpet.

It’s something I’ve long believed in professionally myself – an editor is an umbrella. It creates the best environment for its team to do their best work and taking all the flak so they can do that.

What can I say; hey, you used the word hero here, not me.

At the top of the tree you’re a facilitator in many ways, making it possible for everyone else to be their best selves. And if that goes well, you’re lauded as a god and recognised as a great boss, and because everyone else did the work! But that’s leadership, right? If it goes well, you’re recognised as good. If things go badly, the buck always stops with you.

Is Gavin Isaacs a sure bet for Entain?
Gavin’s appointment was met with widespread joy in the industry, and it’s not just because he’s a popular figure. I think everyone hopes he does brilliantly in the job. You could argue it’s basically expected that he does well.

MGM’s Bill Hornbuckle certainly seemed pleased. The appointment was “comforting” and Issacs would “do wonders for that business and ultimately the market”, he said.

Here’s what it got me mulling over, though. Isaacs is, by most metrics, a bloody nice bloke. It’s often said that nice guys finish last, and that to succeed in business you have to be akin to a shark. There’s an idea that being nice means you’re soft, or weak. That’s certainly nonsense, any idiot surely knows that by the time they reach adulthood.

But it’s true that certain traits lend themselves brilliantly to the business world that would probably be frowned on in polite society. Psychopaths (the term sociopath is also used pretty much interchangeably in most articles on the subject) have many traits perfect for the boardroom.

No issues with being dishonest, a grandiose sense of self-worth, a lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility for their own actions, manipulative, and they’re creative.

If you’ve got a business that’s struggling or needs tough decisions to be made, it’s time to call Hannibal Lecter, not one of these lightweight consultant types. You want Anthony Hopkins in there, not George Clooney off Up In The Air.

I interviewed one gambling industry executive about board-level behaviours. “Hyper-aggressive behaviour, self-promotion, and being slightly sociopathic is of benefit if your goal is to get to the top,” they said. “It doesn’t help you when you’re there, but it definitely helps you get there.”

Their request for anonymity was presumably borne out of fear for their life. Following this train of thought led me to discover that academics believe anything up to 15% of top-level executives exhibit psychopathic traits. 

This makes a lot of sense. We’re talking about people able to charm a room, to show a certain assertiveness, even a dominance in some situations. People who also have to get others on board with their vision, in order to make it happen.

The cult of personality
It’s not just about intelligence or even competence, because in a world where shareholders carry so much power, leaders need charisma. People need to believe in them, it’s as much a cult of personality as anything else.

If you don’t believe me about the cult part, just look at the levels of adulation many modern CEOs and business leaders have: Steve Jobs, Elon Musk. Hell, even Donald Trump, a man who conspired to create multiple bankruptcies at a time when a monkey playing a banjo on the Atlantic City Boardwalk would have made you a millionaire.

A CEO now is a part of your corporate image, a part of the brand you present to your end user. If your CEO is investigated for anything dodgy, these days it doesn’t tend to be swept under the carpet. The damage to the brand is too great. When even the Catholic Church has realised this, you know we live in a bold new age.

Setting the tone
On this note, CEOs also provide boundaries for behaviour. They set examples; people will push boundaries if they’re not both clear and firm, and at all levels. As my unnamed executive said: “The perfect archetype for the modern CEO is to have your front-line people love you, and your executive team cower before you.”

But that psychopath thing, it’s worrying isn’t it? Don’t get too hung up on the terminology though.

As Karen Landay, now assistant professor of management at University of North Texas G. Brint Ryan College of Business, told Forbes a few years ago: “Clinical psychopathy is a personality disorder and that is something that is diagnosed by a medical doctor.

“That is not what we are talking about when we are looking at psychopathic CEOs. We are just talking about people who have really, really crappy personalities.”

Not Gavin though. And I’m not just saying that.