🦉 CEO wisdom

Hello! 

I hope you've had a great week.

Interviews with CEOs form a core part of my guest speaker library. And every few months or so, I host an in-person event including a fireside chat and audience Q&A session with a CEO or two. In this week's newsletter, I thought it'd be interesting to share some of the wisdom that stuck with me from a recent such event.

Btw, here's a list of some of the CEO guest speakers who have kindly joined me to date - all their insights are available for members of my career momentum community - just follow the links from the page above or reply to this email if you'd like to join for my guest speaker sessions or Friday career advisory Q&A.

Although this advice has come from CEOs reflecting on their own roles and career paths, the advice holds true for almost any role you might be aiming for!

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Stress test whether the role will actually suit you.

For a career to feel fulfilling, the most vital thing is that the role (or role that you're aiming for) actually plays to your strengths. Put simply - you enjoy and are good at doing what that role requires you to spend 90% of your time doing.

Don't be fooled by the "Hollywood" impression of a CEO. Instead, really take time to understand what the role actually entails - it's typically not what most people think (my interviews and events are a good starting point for exploring this).

Then don't feel like you've failed by expressly NOT aiming for the C-Suite. For a career to be fulfilling, the shoe needs to fit. And the CEO-shaped shoe is a very particular fit.

In case it helps, the 2 underlying strengths (proven with research) that CEOs share are (1) conscientiousness (working hard) & (2) learning fast.

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You have to be truly excited by the mission.  

Truly fulfilling and impactful work requires your energy. And positive energy is most readily generated by working on something you believe in. Something that makes you feel purposeful. And when it comes to the CEO role, if you don't have that excitement and belief, you're likely to be outcompeted by organisations that do have a truly inspired leader.

Now, don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean we all have to work for non-profits. It simply means that you will succeed by feeling you are at home at work. In the right role, team and place doing something that engages you and your strengths in an authentic way that people can follow.

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Choose a direction, not a destination.

The core of any leadership position lies in making decisions every day. Often quickly. Often under pressure. Often with imperfect data.

If you are wedded to an exact outcome (destination), you'll find this extremely difficult. Your decision-making will slow down, and the organisation with it. Setting out a direction of travel allows for testing and iterating at speed while also being open to better destinations you couldn't envisage at the start.

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Talk to competitors.

Don't shy away from "keeping your enemies closer". Learn how to give enough to get a lot. And appreciate that the best intelligence lies often not in what is said, but in what remains unsaid or how something is said (90% of communication is body language after all). 

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Surround yourself with the right people.

Doing this well comes down to my first point above - knowing with total clarity what your distinctive strengths are (probably 1 or 2 things only) and therefore knowing what you'll never be world-class at.

Successful leaders intimately understand their weaknesses and blind spots, consciously building a team that brings distinctive strengths they don't have.

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Know which battles are worth fighting.

People with strong generalist skill sets who are good at the big picture can commonly offer a half-decent opinion on almost anything. Giving input and opening up debate often feels like the right thing to do.

But 95% of the time, those things don't matter. Your way is probably no better than another way. Or if it is, only marginally. Being a truly effective leader is about recognising all the things you can let slide and picking the few things that really benefit from your attention.

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Many thanks to all the leaders who join me in person and to my guest speaker interviews.

I hope you enjoyed this edition and also enjoyed exploring my CEO guest speaker line-up. Wishing you a great Friday and weekend ahead. Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating.

All the best,

Rich