Making the leap from entrepreneur to CEO isn’t always an easy journey. I’ve seen many people struggle with this transition. Leadership is not something you are born with; it is something you must constantly cultivate. And, the more success you have, the more leadership will be required. It is one thing to be the center of your own universe. It is quite another to build an organization of high performing interdependent individuals who are responsible for large numbers of people. You will eventually reach a point where many things happen in your organization on a day-to-day basis of which you have very little direct influence. You will even end up having people working for you who you may not even know. Instead of being an activity junkie who is good at getting a lot of things done, you will need to morph into a CEO who is focused and thoughtful on ensuring the important things are done well and usually by someone else. It becomes less about “doing” and more about “thinking” and “being.” Here are some CEO best practices I’ve observed over the past 25 years :
- You’re only as smart as what you know, and you’re never done learning – be curious
- Minimize your distractions and maximize your focus – multitasking is for amateurs; be present
- Spend time on high ROI activities – your time is your most valuable asset, so treat it that way
- Lean into challenging conversations but do so in a thoughtful and professional manner – do what’s necessary because delaying the inevitable only makes it worse
- Never stop building and strengthening your network – build as many bridges as possible because you never no when you’ll need another route
- Know your numbers – you must become expert on what drives your revenue, profit and cash flow; financial ignorance is not bliss, it’s dangerous
- Take the time necessary to select great people and then let them do their jobs – hire slow, fire fast, then trust but verify
- Have a strategy that drives tactics not the other way around – Get everyone on the same page regarding what success looks like then build a plan to make it happen
- Healthy body , sharp mind – your job is demanding so take care of your physical and mental capacity to do it
- Don’t leave your family in the rearview mirror – success is pointless if it costs you your family and close relationships
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