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In fact, great CEOs should be almost overwhelmed by the need to achieve something. That is what drives them. Achievement. Not ego.”
once a person’s ego is initially satisfied, they turn their efforts toward enjoying the fruits of their new status. They work less hours. They worry less about the company’s performance than they do about their own level of comfort and status.”
when the company shows signs of failure and the CEO’s status is in jeopardy, then he might work hard again, but not because he’s concerned about the company. He’s really only concerned about his image.”
“Wanting to be popular with your direct reports instead of holding them accountable.”
he told them what he expected and reminded them of those expectations constantly. When they failed, he made the consequences clear, whether it was financial or otherwise. Eventually, if a person couldn’t find a way to improve, they would just leave.”
temptation to ensure that your decisions are correct.”
“It’s the temptation to choose certainty over clarity. Some executives fear being wrong so much that they wait until they’re absolutely certain about something before they make a decision. That makes it impossible to hold people accountable.”
You can’t hold people accountable for things that aren’t clear. If you’re unwilling to make decisions with limited information, you can’t achieve clarity.”
any decision is better than no decision.”
having a great vision and mission is only important if you know how to execute. I’ll take a well-executing company over a visionary one any day.”
“There aren’t supposed to be easy answers,
without accountability, results are a matter of luck.”
“Let me tell you something. From what I can tell, many CEOs have the same problems. They finally get the job they’ve always wanted, and they become afraid to lose their status. Or they don’t want to hold people accountable because they’re afraid to be unpopular. And even if they aren’t afraid to be unpopular, they don’t hold people accountable because they haven’t bothered to be clear about what they expect from people because—” Andrew finished the rest of the lesson. “Because they’re afraid to be wrong.”
“‘I-WAS-WRONG.’
if he couldn’t be comfortable being wrong, he wouldn’t make tough decisions with limited information.”
“Temptation four is the desire for harmony.”
harmony is like cancer to good decision making.”
People who trust one another aren’t worried about holding back their opinions or their passions. They say what they think and know that they aren’t going to be vulnerable if they do.”
“Do you know why people don’t trust other people?” “No. Why?” “Because they’re afraid of getting burned. That’s what I mean by vulnerability.”
“Opening yourself up to being burned. Sometimes it’s even okay to get burned, because you realize it’s not fatal.”
I don’t like conflict because I don’t trust people, and I don’t trust people because I’m afraid of being vulnerable.”
“Being vulnerable. Being wrong. Being unpopular. Losing your status.”
Getting results, holding people accountable, creating clarity for your people, engaging in productive conflict with them?
Leaders fail because they are unwilling to put their temptations on the table for others to see. For it is only by bringing their temptations into the open that leaders can enlist the support of subordinates who are in a unique position to help.
Simple advice for CEOs: make results the most important measure of personal success, or step down from the job. The future of the company you lead is too important for customers, employees, and stockholders to hold it hostage to your ego.
Simple advice for CEOs: work for the long-term respect of your direct reports, not for their affection. Don’t view them as a support group, but as key employees who must deliver on their commitments if the company is to produce predictable results. And remember, your people aren’t going to like you anyway if they ultimately fail.
Simple advice for CEOs: make clarity more important than accuracy. Remember that your people will learn more if you take decisive action than if you always wait for more information. And if the decisions you make in the spirit of creating clarity turn out to be wrong when more information becomes available, change plans and explain why. It is your job to risk being wrong. The only real cost to you of being wrong is loss of pride. The cost to your company of not taking the risk of being wrong is paralysis.
