What makes a successful CEO?

Being a CEO takes hard work and dedication. It isn't for the faint of heart. But effective leadership is the key predictor of a company and its team's performance. So what makes a leader effective? Here is a guide to what makes a successful CEO...

The CEO’s job is as difficult as it is important - the stakes are high and the demands are intense. Whilst much has been written about how CEOs spend their time or personality traits that make CEOs successful, this doesn’t help CEOs to maximise their impact and accelerate their performance once they’re in the top job. In this post, I explore how the best CEOs think and behave.

The best CEOs make bold decisions early, quickly and with conviction.

The role of the CEO is to set the strategic direction of the company - even in the face of uncertainty, ambiguity and with incomplete information. High-performing leaders are more decisive than their counterparts. They consistently make bold decisions early, quickly and with conviction. They know that a wrong decision is worse than no decision at all. This means they don’t wait to have all the information; they make a call, knowing that in most cases a decision can be undone. This doesn’t mean they’re callous - they consider the impact of getting it wrong and they seek the views of trusted advisers before pulling the trigger. They also know when not to make a decision. Could waiting a week or a month allow important information to emerge without causing harm to the business? But, once a decision has been made, they don’t backtrack; they stand by their decision and press ahead without hesitation.

The best CEOs get buy-in from all employees and stakeholders.

Excellent CEOs get their people on board by first understanding key stakeholders’ needs and motivations and then carefully communicating their vision and goals with those needs and motivations in mind. This means establishing good relationships, building trust and loyalty, and promoting collaboration and connection whilst maintaining the distance required to be objective. High performance CEOs don’t invest their time and energy in being liked or protecting their teams from hard decisions. They gain the support of their employees and stakeholders by demonstrating that they will lead the team to success, even if it means making uncomfortable or unpopular moves. The best CEOs don’t shy away from conflict. They’re willing to tackle controversial issues, listening and soliciting views from their team but not necessarily giving them the vote.

The best CEOs are agile.

CEOs who excel at proactively adapting are most likely to succeed. This requires leaders to focus on the long-term so they can see change earlier than competitors and make a bold strategic move, reallocating their resources (capital, people, etc.) to where they will deliver the most value. To have the capacity to do this, a high-performing CEO must delegate the day-to-day business operations to others and centre on the roadmap for the future. Jeff Bezos has said that he “very rarely get[s] pulled into the today”. He gets “to work two or three years into the future, and most of [his] leadership team has the same setup”. This means surrounding themselves with strong teams.

The best CEOs take command of their personal wellbeing.

CEOs can easily become overwhelmed, exhausted and frustrated - which is understandable given the weight of their role. Whilst there’s no cure-all for these emotions, leaders that manage their time and energy are able to set a pace that can be sustained for the long haul. The most successful CEOs make their priorities explicit (and have highly skilled people around them supporting them to do so) allowing them to spend their time doing work that only they can do. High performing CEOs should limit their involvement in tasks that can be dealt with by others. The best CEOs also manage their energy as thoughtful as their time, giving themselves time for breaks and recovery (e.g. time with family, exercise, reading).

Leadership really matters - and no leader is more important than the leader of leaders. CEOs can boost their impact and performance by understanding and adopting the mindsets and behaviours that define the best CEOs.

PSST…

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