Eight CEO Sacrifices: Great job. Loads of perks. But success often comes with a price—and the corner office is no exception - Executive Privilege

Chief Executive, The, Nov, 2001 by Meryl Davids Landau

When new employees make the rounds at the Connecticut headquarters of Pilot Pen Corp. of America, they are often dazzled by the corner office of CEO and President Ron Shaw. "Wow, I want one of those," Shaw can almost hear them thinking. Of course he knows something they don't. "People forget you have to pay your dues -- on the way up and once you're on top -- and paying them involves tremendous sacrifices," says Shaw, a former stand-up comic who humorously details his own trade-offs in his new book, Pilot Your Life.

Shaw would be the first to say the reward has been worth the price--and he's not alone with that sentiment. The CEOs interviewed for this article say no other position affords them the freedom to set the agenda and see it through to completion, nor the opportunity to put together a terrific team. And no other job provides such prestige and remuneration.

The trade-offs CEOs have to make aren't exactly new. But in today's open culture, they're more willing to discuss them, says Beverly Lieberman, president of executive search firm Halbrecht Lieberman Associates in Stamford, CT. "Fifteen years ago, CEOs didn't talk about the toll their jobs took on their families and themselves," she says. "They just grinned and bore it."

Not anymore. CE talked with CEOs across the country who no longer want to suffer in silence. Following are the eight sacrifices they say they've had to make to succeed--for better and for worse.

#One

A Cozy--and Familiar--Bed

Ask CEOs what they most dislike about the job and most Wi11 answer in unison: travel.

Michael Bealmear lives in San Francisco, and because his $450 million IT-services company, Covansys, is headquartered in Farmington Hills, MI, you'd expect him to be away from home a lot. But Bealmear says his geographic location has little to do with the hours he spends in the air. "We've got 40 locations worldwide, and all the action is in the field," Bealmear, 52, says. "I need to be at those sites at least five days each week."

When John Haley, 51, was head of Watson Wyatt & Co.'s benefits consulting group, he thought he was traveling excessively. But that was nothing compared with his travel schedule since he became president and CEO of the global consulting firm. Haley now finds himself on the road three or four days each week. In a recent, typical month, Haley touched down in Toronto, Colorado, Australia, Singapore, Korea, and Japan.

Pilot Pen's Shaw is similarly aghast that his itinerary remains so full. "I never thought I'd still be traveling this much at this stage in my career. It's been 40 years of packing the suitcase and heading to the airport," Shaw, 62, says with a sigh.

He notes that while he was on the road more days when he was national sales manager, his trips now are mostly international and therefore longer. "I've stayed in the best hotels and eaten in the best restaurants," he says. "But when you do that enough, staying home with a tuna fish sandwich is the real treat."

#Two

Junior's Ball Games--and a Date with the Spouse

Whether they're on the road or spending 80 hours in the office, CEOs also agree that it is hard to find time for the family. "Fifty to seventy-five percent of CEOs tell me they are neglecting their family, and they are pained and stressed by it," says headhunter Lieberman.

"I'm missing a lot of my boys' development--the basketball and soccer games, the scouting activities, church youth groups," says Covansys' Bealmear, whose sons are 13 and 10. "I try to catch up with them on weekends, but you can't replace five days with two."

Joe Kealy, CEO of International FiberCom, a $350 million telephone and cable service provider, was determined to make nearly every football game of Arizona State University last year, because his son Ryan was the starting quarterback. Home games at the nearby school were easy, but to catch the away games, Kealy, 51, frequently had to leave work in the late afternoon and fly back late the same night.

A self-professed early riser, Kealy says he's managed to-carve out time for his children by starting his work day at 4 a.m. The unusual schedule allows him to log at least 12 hours at work and still spend evenings with the kids -- although he admits that by the end of his day, he doesn't always have the energy to devote to the family. "There is no absolute equity and balance," Kealy says. "You just do the best you can."

If there's little time for the children, there's even less time for the spouse. "Not only do I miss having a lot of personal interaction with my wife, my being away puts the extra burden on her to run the entire household," Bealmear says, echoing the comments of many other executives.

Because being a CEO is such a public position, particularly in large companies, the family is subject to additional strains. "If dad is a CEO and he's closing a plant or laying off workers, the children will pay a price at school," says Patrick Sylvester, managing partner of the Philadelphia-based executive recruiter Banister International. Sylvester recalls a time in the 1980s when corporate raider Saul Steinberg was greenmailing the Walt Disney Co. Steinberg's son was subjected to taunts from schoolmates that his dad was being mean to Mickey Mouse.