Well you have to meet with a customer and conduct field analysis/customer relationship management, but you decide you’ll never meet them… either from home or the office, this is a professional mistake and it is made on purpose. Give the customer back what they paid, out of your salary, yes you can get things done but there is no way you truely know what it is that needs to be done, the consultant son’t only brings in expertise but also perspective, one you don’t get more than any employee if you are just relying on others sensing and the comfort of your chair. Wether you decide to work 20 days from home, meet one every three weeks on site or get immersed for 5 days to bring in value is really up to negociation but just not doing the task is not. On the other end I would argue the CEO’s call is really a trick as anything important should be written for liability and in order to make sure no information is lost. A call that is unaswered without any message following is as far as anyone can know nothing you should seriously worry about, you don’t just get somethting done over a random phone call. Need some data ? State what you need, for when and why, help prioritize and emphatize with the problem. Need a decision to be made on your behalf ? Don’t make the employee accountable for it from other’s point of view, you give the order, you document it and own it, delegating is not making people proxies for your own responsibility, you either give trackable order or stated and scoped autonomy. They might be a reason employees would end up abusing such a ceo, and worse, the customers… but the leader is responsible for that and either put the effort into making things right, name it sustain a better work ethic or get rid of the people who are harming the company.