The Pharaoh of PowerPoint: When Egos Build Pyramids Instead of Products
- Rich Washburn
- Nov 16
- 3 min read
There’s something almost biblical about the way these guys operate.They don’t build companies anymore — they build temples to themselves.
You’ve seen it: the aging executive who insists on running a “modern digital venture” entirely through local copies of Microsoft Word. No version control, no shared drives, no Google Docs, no transparency.
It’s not about productivity — it’s about control.He treats the document like sacred scripture, locked in his desktop tomb where only he can access it.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team — talented, motivated people — spend their days in an endless loop of meta-meetings and self-congratulatory detours, all orbiting the gravitational pull of his ego. Every call becomes a ceremony. Every “strategy session” a ring-kissing ritual. And at the end of it? Nothing gets built. Nothing gets launched.
The Sophomoric CEO doesn’t actually want progress.He wants deference disguised as collaboration.
The Grift Wrapped in a Vision
Here’s the hard truth: a lot of these legacy execs have figured out how to turn “the promise of a launch” into a lifestyle.They keep the dream just alive enough to attract smart people — volunteers, freelancers, or believers — who think they’re part of something big.
But it’s not a startup. It’s a serfdom of hope. You’re not co-creating; you’re building a monument to someone else’s delusion.
And while they’re busy micromanaging fonts in Word, the world outside is moving at light speed — AI tools automating in hours what they’ve been “developing” for years. The market’s not waiting. The tech’s not waiting. Their moment is evaporating in real time.
The tragedy? They could still win if they’d just get out of their own way.
The Modern Lesson
The new era of leadership isn’t about hierarchy — it’s about velocity, transparency, and adaptability. If your tools can’t talk to each other, your team won’t either.If your ego can’t share the spotlight, your project will never scale.
The Sophomoric CEO is the last gasp of the old corporate order — the one where authority mattered more than innovation, and where “leadership” meant being the loudest voice in the meeting.
But in 2025, the only thing louder than that voice is the sound of irrelevance catching up.
Five Warning Signs Your CEO Is Ready to Go Out to Pasture
(A survival guide for anyone trying to innovate under a relic in a Rolex.)
1. The Microsoft Word Fortress
If your CEO treats a local copy of Word like a national security secret — refusing Google Docs, collaboration tools, or even the concept of “cloud” — you’re not building a company; you’re reenacting Office Space. Every time they send an email with an attached .docx, an angel loses its Wi-Fi connection.
2. The Meeting Mirage
You’re in a three-hour “strategy session” that accomplishes absolutely nothing — except confirming that the CEO still knows how to interrupt everyone. The more the meetings multiply, the less actual work gets done. These aren’t meetings; they’re séances with PowerPoint.
3. The Legacy Loop
Every “new” idea somehow circles back to something they did in 1995. They can’t talk about innovation without name-dropping AOL or Enron. Their frame of reference hasn’t been updated since Netscape. If their version of “digital strategy” includes the phrase “we’ll fax them a proposal,” it’s time for an intervention.
4. The Ego Economy
When your CEO surrounds themselves only with yes-men, they’re not leading — they’re running a fan club. They conflate respect with obedience and feedback with mutiny. The modern world runs on iteration, but they’d rather keep polishing their reflection in the mahogany conference table.
5. The Volunteer Cult
The biggest red flag of all: no one’s getting paid, but everyone’s “part of something special.”Translation: you’re funding their nostalgia tour. If you hear phrases like “We’re almost there!” or “Once this next milestone hits, we’ll all be rich,” — congratulations, you’ve joined a vision-based pyramid scheme.
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