I'll relate a similar anecote; dot com exploding crisis in the board room, frozen management. I reached out to Scott McNealy and asked how at Sun we had hit rough times and it got painful but it never got stuck. His response changed my whole take on things. He said,
"Chuck nobody knows what they are going to be when the chips are down, they can think they will be a tiger but they sometimes they discover they are the deer, and stare transfixed at the headlights. The best you can do is test people early to get a sense of how they respond and move the ones who can't act in a crisis into safer jobs."
I have found this to be very accurate advice. People who you wouldn't think would freeze up can (and do) and people who you felt were meek and softspoken can suddenly stand up and take charge. Its the fight-or-flight instinct and its wired in the part of the brain you don't have a lot of control over. It sounds like your CEO friend discovered he couldn't take the pressure and ran. It can be a shameful place for a proud person, it has driven people to suicide. Understanding that its not under your conscious control can help.
A really excellent insight. It's amazing how people take on entirely new mantles when things get tough, and you just simply can't predict that that will look like.
It reminds me of the Mastermind Rational role variant in the Keirsey Temperament Sorter [1]. A personality type that doesn't want to lead, but when crisis hits and they feel leadership has let them down, will take charge and get shit done. It's a good kind of reserve person to keep in the wings I think.
I don't know of a corollary for the opposite though, who want to lead, but shut down at the first sign of trouble -- even though it seems to be a favorite archetype of writers.
"Chuck nobody knows what they are going to be when the chips are down, they can think they will be a tiger but they sometimes they discover they are the deer, and stare transfixed at the headlights. The best you can do is test people early to get a sense of how they respond and move the ones who can't act in a crisis into safer jobs."
I have found this to be very accurate advice. People who you wouldn't think would freeze up can (and do) and people who you felt were meek and softspoken can suddenly stand up and take charge. Its the fight-or-flight instinct and its wired in the part of the brain you don't have a lot of control over. It sounds like your CEO friend discovered he couldn't take the pressure and ran. It can be a shameful place for a proud person, it has driven people to suicide. Understanding that its not under your conscious control can help.