Computer ABCs for CEOs : Executives Beat Techno-Phobia at O.C. Retreat
It may come as no surprise that many chief executives of major corporations are computer-illiterate. The higher up they are, the more embarrassing it can be to come out of the closet and seek help.
So it was with gritted teeth that 31 CEOs came to a $5,500-per-person retreat in Orange County this week to admit their techno-phobia and learn to use gadgets from personal computers to voice mail.
“I’m borderline computer-illiterate,” said Russell E. Christiansen, chief executive of Midwest Resources Inc., an electric and gas utility in Des Moines, Iowa. “I thought I better get on with it. I can’t be the last one in our organization to learn how to use a computer.”
Like Christiansen, one of every three executives attending the seminar said they don’t use computers at work or at home, said Robert Burns, chief executive of the CEO Institutes, a training company that sponsors the seminars along with software publisher Computer Associates International Inc.
The seminar at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel resort in Dana Point was the third in a series of retreats the company has staged for chief executives from around the world. It is part of a crusade against the dangers of “technology disconnect” between business people and the technology experts they increasingly depend on.
“We’re trying to show that it isn’t so complicated,” said Charles Wang, chief executive of Computer Associates in Islandia, N.Y. “We’re trying to take the intimidation out. We’re also saying that if you want to use technology as a competitive advantage, you have to take the technology up into executive management. “
While their spouses toil away at personal finance programs at home and their secretaries become wizards of word processing, some chief executives may have been left out of the computer revolution. They’ve conquered business skills but are often too proud to ask for help about computers. Still, they make multimillion-dollar decisions when investing in technology.
Daniel R. Nelson, chief executive of West One Bancorp, a regional bank based in Boise, Idaho, with $7.4 billion in assets, said he came to the seminar because he spends $2 million a year buying computer equipment he cannot fathom.
“It’s one of our largest expenditures and it has come to control our lives,” he said. “I’m always terrified we’re going down a blind alley. I’ve got to learn it or I’m going to get run over by it.”
At the seminar, the executives learn along with their technology-shy peers in a comfortable, non-threatening environment. Each is assigned a personal adviser in case he or she gets lost in the computer world.
They joke about how they had talked themselves into thinking that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Donald S. Freeman, president of Dallas-based Freeman Cos., a $250-million company with 1,500 employees that organizes trade shows, said he balked at computer manuals that were thicker than the instruction books for the corporate planes he pilots.
Others go to great lengths to hide their lack of knowledge. Carlos Tan, chief executive of Bumble Bee Seafoods Inc. in San Diego, said he gets his secretary to print out his electronic mail. But he never asks her any questions.
“I’m completely illiterate,” he said. “For me, this is practical because we’re about to invest some money in a new computer system.”
The seminar begins with the basics because more than a few executives are clueless.
One man, when asked to activate his computer mouse--the ubiquitous, hand-directed pointing device that controls a moving cursor on a monitor--tried to place it on the computer screen. At the seminar, such faux pas are forgiven. Not so at work.
“It’s OK if you look bad here,” Nelson said. “It’s embarrassing back at the office. If I went back and said people could only communicate with me by electronic mail, I imagine it would be pretty quiet for a couple of months.”
Semi-savvy executives find that the minimum requirement for “computer literacy” keeps rising. Margaret S. Wilson, chief executive of the Scarboroughs department store chain in Austin, Texas, said she takes her portable computer wherever she goes, but only to type in notes. She wants to be a power user.
“I have programs on my computer that I don’t know how to use, like spreadsheets or electronic mail,” she said. “I’m a frequent user, but not a sophisticated one.”
For older executives, learning about PCs is like trying to jump across a generation gap. But watching their children play Nintendo games or program their videocassette recorders makes some curious.
“I visited a generating station we own and there was an operator in his 50s who was pointing and clicking his way through a computer-control program,” Christiansen said. “I figured if he could do it, I could.”
By mid-morning Thursday, the tutors had walked the executives through lessons on word processing, electronic mail, spreadsheets and personal finance. After the initial instruction, Nelson of West One Bancorp scored 16 out of 23 on a multiple-choice test of basic computer terminology, such as the meaning of “word processor” (a device that allows people to create and edit documents). Nelson’s score was considered average.
“It’s not really as difficult as I made myself believe,” he said.
And it’s not such a great leap from using a computer to talking intelligently about their use in corporations or making decisions about how to use such technology as a competitive tool.
It’s good to know, for instance, that computers can cause antisocial behavior like prompting salespeople to communicate with customers electronically instead of in person, Freeman said.
“I can remember when we didn’t have a fax machine in our sawmills,” said Charles Godfrey, president of Canal Industries Inc., a forest products company in Conway, S.C. “The good old days are a memory.”
