There is only one mechanic for running a Corporation in Eve – someone has to be CEO. There are no other choices.
Within that extremely limited framework many variations have emerged over the last decade in actual Corporation management style. Small groups of friends sharing power, democratic votes, committee shares, role-players, yadda yadda on and on, probably just about every way you can think to govern – someone has tried it.
But surely the most prevalent and most popular CEO style in Eve is the Dictatorship. Supported by a Board of Directors or not, orders come from a single source. Mandates arrive from on high. Direction is pointed at and it is expected that others will follow. Individual styles vary in the execution of ultimate power of course, some dictators tend to be better than others. Some more ego-centric, others more inclusive, and some just down right driven by near madness.
Over the years I’ve served under them all. From the “buddy” Dictator to the “AFK” Dictator who rarely appears in the actual game. And everything in-between. It all comes down to the individual in charge, their personality, confidence, experience and mental issues. Or social maturity.
Typically the CEO has a dream, a vision, or an idea about how he sees the world of Eve and how others should see it. He ( or she, I’m not trying to be sexist here ) wants others to help him achieve this idea of his. Mining rocks, building stuff, invading or gaining territory, blowing up other people, whatever it might be.
And this is where the Cult of Personality comes into play. You either have “game” or you don’t. Let’s not sugar coat it, you get three total strangers to join your Corp or you get three thousand to do it, the personality of the Boss is ultimately the reason why it happens. Why else? There are literally hundreds and hundreds of other Corporations to choose from? Why you?
I’ve had great CEO bosses and I’ve had not-so-good CEO bosses, but I have to be honest here – I’ve never had a terrible CEO. ( Not counting that Corp I was in once for less than a day, I never got to know that CEO ) Maybe I’ve been lucky, but I have learned a lot from the people I served under or with over the years.
The best CEO I ever served with was easily LJB, the CEO of one of Eve’s longest running Corporations – Dissonance Corp [DION]. ( Founded in October, 2003 ) Not surprisingly LJB is a real-world politician type person and a truly nice person. I spent a lot of the first half of my Eve career in Dissonance and I learned a lot about how to run a successful Corporation from my good friend.
But I’ve learned something from all of them. A piece here, a style there, and all of it jumbles up and messes around in my head. But I’ve also learned a lot from my own failures, more than anything else, failure is a powerful teacher. Stay Frosty is the fourth Corporation that I’ve started since I began playing Eve. You learn a lot by living thru that, the school of Hard Knocks is a brutal one in this game of ours.
I’m not a Dictator. My grand scheme doesn’t involve climbing a ladder, forcing our will on others, taking new ground, expanding ideology, or anything more than ensuring the successful propagation and continuation of a very specific play-style. A play-style which I personally happen to be enamored with and believe to be particularly awesome.
That is my own flag. And I’ve planted it as securely as possible in our corner of Eve. I listen to my members, I encourage everyone to have an opinion and to feel empowered to take on any responsibility that they feel is important to them. Ultimately my “job” isn’t to dictate one thing or another, but to steer the ship on a steady course. To keep the forces of elitism away from our doors, to guard against the forces allied against us and to beat the drums about how awesome each and every pilot in our Corporation is.
I’m more of a Steward Cheerleader than Dictator.
That just happens to be my style.
Rixx Javix is a null and low sec PVPer. He has seen some heavy warfare in the Providence region in the years he has been playing. His blog can be found here.
+1
Excellent reading. More of this and less of the “slanted” propaganda type posts would be welcomed.
Then you will find more of it on the blog it was syndicated from. Most of EN24’s none sucky content is not original but other blogger’s work. I mostly come to EN24 for the comments section now.
I’m a nice dictator as well… I encourage my minions after I tell them what to do.
In WHYSO we have Rots Mijnwerker. The guy has impressed me from not only the game level but a RL level. Meeting him on his vacation in NYC was a rate chance to get inside the head of the guy. In eve he leads fleets with a Mickey Mouse voice or imitates drkrom4eg from gypsy band or makes the atmosphere keen enough for players to enjoy the game. Coming from alliances with closed door leadership it’s a pleasent surprise to get trasperency from your alliance leader, but even more awesome is he is the same dude in real life he didn’t need to put on a persona for me, simple dude with a job and some time to fc and lead an alliance.
trasperency, epic
Too bad it is a shit alliance!
In TEST we have… uh uh uh ohwait everyone jumped ship to PL/EMP/CFC/BL already.
LOL
Man, you always have Booda
Did you have to write this for your social studies class? I hope you pass.
He won’t, the piece lacks structure.There’s some sort of prologue about “other dictators” and this and that, and then “i am not like them” and that’s it. No vision, morale, closure…
Still better than groblin though.
I write on my blog, I have no control over which articles get picked for syndication.
Well if he makes you look bad, maybe tell him to stop, eh?
Actually I wish he’d syndicate more of my articles. These comment sections are hilarious.
WTF kind of self-promoting bullshit was this article here for?
I guess rich drank too much goblin sauce.
Have I missed the point of this article? Or was it really to say “Corps in Eve have CEOs. I am a CEO. Go me!”?
That was it, yes.
If you have the critical thinking skills of a squirrel, then yes, that is it exactly. Please accept this gold star for your shallow and one dimensional view. Otherwise it was a nice view on why people follow CEOs and the strong and weak points common to the position, with insight on the writers personal experience in the position. Well thought out, unlike your post.
TL;DR, yes, you missed the point.
Nothing like pointing out the obvious…
Pointless self-praise and recruitment article.
Would’ve been more benefitial to go into further detail on dictatorship and other government model than go on a tandem with yourself.
Apparently OP has never run a corp in Eve… there’s actually votes and shares which can be used to make some sort of democracy.
Seriously, please write about shit you know eh?
Yeah you go giving out those shares and see how fun things get in your “democracy” in EVE.
I’ve been with the same corp since i started in 2009 (not vet i know, but long enough to know). His term is ‘glorified janitor’. I’ve been senior director for a large portion of that. We just work to give opportunity to members and it trickles down from there. The point is he has never grabbed for power or imposed power, but has so much respect from everyone for his contributions that his choices are never argued.
only ppl that matters are those that take ppl out in space and away from stations. forming fleet, getting ppl active.
Point of the article pls?
Dissonance Corp [DION] isn’t the oldest corp in EVE, BINFORD [FORD] is older, FORD is founded at 27. September 2003 (excuse my bad english ;D)
V I R I I founded 2013-6-4
You need to read, he said one of the oldest…
Where to start…. I was in this corp… I was a director in the mentioned corp (DION)… I was also in the alliance that LJB founded, BLM (BLACK-MARK). Well in this alliance I had high level roles, due to this experience I can confidently say that LJB single handedly oversaw the downfall of this promising alliance. LJB was unbending in the determination that every decision he made was the right way and the only way. Obvious to many of us, this is not the way a leader should handle the suggestions made by their subordinates. Yes, some decisions require the unbending will of a dictator but he/she must keep their ears open to those that they lead. Ultimately not being open to your members, whether they be whole corps or individuals, will lead to failure that was experienced in BLM. Other factors lead to this failure, including a complete inability to compromise with allies, but I am sure that this cycle is doomed to repeat itself whenever LJB finds himself as a leader in EvE.