Being a CEO
I had started a new audiobook while doing my morning walk. 🎧
It’s called The Lazy CEO…
And the reason I picked this book is pretty straight forward:
For my “Personal Brand,” I’m committing to building a real organization…
As opposed to a loose affiliation of people who are helping me to occasionally sell stuff.
You see, the way I currently approach my personal marketing…
Is that I have good people who are helping me with specific objectives and doing a pretty good job…👌
But what’s been less clear are things like:
- Specific Goals + a Roadmap for Reaching Them
- A cohesive org chart where each member knows not only their roles, but how those roles interplay with others (to support the achievement of our goals).
- The development of specific Standard Operating Procedures that allow anyone to be plugged into a specific role and succeed
- A culture where all members of the organization feel like they are part of something greater, and where they are strategically supported in their personal and professional development.
That’s an incomplete list, but those are some of the biggest things on my mind right now…
And because I want to build this into a “real” organization/company…
It means these things start with me, as the CEO.
A lot of entrepreneurs call themselves “CEO”…
But far fewer actually act like a CEO…
And it’s normally to their detriment.
The CEO is the leader…
And more importantly (in my eyes)…
The CEO takes ownership of the company, its goals, its processes, and its outcomes.
That doesn’t mean he or she micromanages these things…
Actually, their job is to put the right people in place to execute on the roadmap or plan…
Then to periodically review progress towards objectives…
And suggest tweaks or changes that are required to stay on course.
It’s kind of a cliché, but the best analogy for leadership (in my opinion) is nautical.
If the company is a ship…
The CEO is the captain.
His or her job is to take all of the available information (maps, established routes, predicted weather, etc)…
Chart the course…
Put the right “crew” in place to ensure the operation of the ship and its progress towards the destination…
And then to remain vigilant…
So that if the ship does start to go off course…
It’s caught early on and corrections are quickly made.
In a nutshell, that’s the role of a CEO (in my eyes)…
Although there’s more to it than that of course…
Because depending on the size of the company and its goals…
The CEO may also play a role in investor relations, P.R., etc.
But yeah, just wanted to share these thoughts…
And I want you to notice that, given my commitment to being the CEO of my own organization…
The first thing I’m doing…
Is becoming a student of leadership.
I did this while I was building my first health supplement company as well…
Reading books like the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
And it was transformative.
We went from $1MM in sales the first year, to $23MM in sales the second year…
So I tend to think this stuff is pretty damn valuable.
– SPG
P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.
