When it comes to corporate management, conventional wisdom has it that high-performing organizations offer employees autonomy in spades. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky vehemently rejects that assertion. “If you want to be autonomous, start your own company,” he told me.
Chesky, just one of 22 Fortune 500 CEOs who can say they founded their empires, notes that his newfound management philosophy isn't an authoritarian approach to leadership, but it's certainly one that’s magisterial and positions him as the ultimate decision-maker in an effort to streamline and expedite internal processes. Since news broke of his idiosyncratic oversight and, consequently, social media dissertations on whether it's a micromanagement rebrand, the CEO hasn't backed away from this ethos, primarily because he’s witnessed the benefits firsthand, Chesky says.
