Impactful steps to take to develop into the best version of the leader of your company.
Most CEOs are not ready or prepared to be CEOs. It’s a huge step. From working hard and chasing their own dreams to becoming the sole responsible individual in the company, in charge of the livelihood of their staff.
So how does one lead his or her company through the complexities of growth and maximizing their impact? It is imperative to develop a personal ethos and system that allows the leader to thrive. If the leader is thriving as a decision maker, then so will the entire company. Positive results start from the very top.
These are the important executable strategies that are key to thriving as a CEO.
1. Develop a sound routine.
Develop and practice a daily routine that allows the leader to thrive — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Whether it is an early morning wake up call, or a morning cardio session, walking the dogs, swimming, hiking, weight lifting, educational course, making breakfast for the family. The morning routine sets the leader free from the chains of worry and drama. Relieves the leader from the variant stress activators that can ruin the early momentum of the day. Many renowned CEO’s have made the case for morning medication, or morning HIIT workout regiments. The earlier the better, the more routine the better.
2. Develop a 25-year framework.
To align all the actions and goals for growth, the CEO system required a long-term vision. A macro view of the overall business plan. This enables the leader to quickly recover from the challenges faced along the way. This is detailed in Dan Sullivan’s The 25-Year Framework. How will a leader strategically plan his/her company and run the day-to-day strategy if they have a hundred quarters to do it?
3. Make personal breakthroughs.
Personal breakthroughs expand the leader’s ability to lead. These come from four specific ingredients: commitment, courage, capacity, and trust.
4. Have deliberate practice.
Imagine two individuals, James and Brent, training for a decathlon. James commits to running every day and eating better. Brent decides to hire the help of a decathlon coach, who develops a precise nutrition and training schedule for him. Who do you think performs better in the decathlon? If you answered Brent, you are correct. Brent followed a deliberate practice as advised by someone with more expertise on the subject. You can continually expand your impact by learning from experts and aiming for deliberate practice in your goals.
5. Use three timeframes to structure your week.
Dan Sullivan’s book How the Best Get Better explains an entrepreneurial system of three timeframes per week: execution days, preparation days, and free days. I aim for a maximum of three execution days a week. Running webinars, for example, is for my execution days. I then allocate two days for preparation. The remaining days are free days. These time frames will make you a far more effective leader without your burning out. I recommend scheduling at least three days out of the office to disconnect and rest.
6. Play chess, not checkers.
When leaders see their team as checkers, every piece is a uniform–the same size and with the same capability. They end up simply managing all the pieces and how they each move around. When a leader see their team as chess pieces, they recognize each one as having its own strengths and weaknesses. The way the leader strategizes each employee and their accompanying strengths and weaknesses shifts dramatically. To be a better CEO, stop managing your team and start leading them. Grow their strengths and foster teamwork that offsets one person’s weakness with another person’s strength.
7. Competition
Have a dashboard displaying the key performance metrics that anyone in the company can view and access. Competition Dashboards allow the company staff to quickly see who’s performing well, who is not, who is improving, and who is not. The competitive element of human nature must never be underutilized. The best companies are those that nurture a competitive nature amongst their staff.
Benjamin Borazzi has been a CEO for over 13 years, managing successful Marketing, Advertising, Legal, Mortgage, and Staffing companies. With leadership experience over 200 employees and over 20 departments.