None of us live long enough to experience everything by ourselves. This is why it is important to learn from those who have gone before us. In any organization, CEOs hold the highest position and oversee its operational processes. While the debate on who is the world’s best CEO is ongoing, there is no denying that some of them are a cut above the rest. Three executives from a management consulting firm decided to approach this from a different angle and set out to understand what makes successful CEOs stand out. The result? They distilled their wisdom into a book on leadership lessons from CEOs.
So, what would you do if you had access to the hard-earned wisdom of successful CEOs? Would you course-correct after going through the lessons shared by CEOs?
Few things carry as much weight as the voice of a well-respected leader. In this story, we delve into the closely-guarded trade-secrets of CEOs to help you in your professional journey.
Successful CEOs are masters of delegation, and have a variety of skills under their belt. They have a nuanced understanding of the people around them and the societal pressures that come with the job.
Let us take a look at the wisdom shared by CEOs as gleaned by Carolyn Dewar and Scott Keller, who co-lead McKinsey’s global CEO Excellence practice, along with insights from Vikram Malhotra, former chair of McKinsey’s Americas region. The three authored the book CEO Excellence wherein they detail countless discussions with world-class CEOs on creating extraordinary value in everyday life. This distilled wisdom can be condensed into six mindsets for success that we have prepared for your convenience.
Some of their 67 interviewees who agreed to share their stores include Mary Barra (GM), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Marillyn Hewson (Lockheed Martin), Herbert Hainer (Adidas), and Reed Hastings (Netflix).
Be Bold
To grow, leaders must be bold and unafraid of facing challenges. Dewar, Keller, and Malhotra state that CEOs, who are changemakers, approach problems differently and do not allow themselves to be consumed by crisis. They are always willing to be bold, relearn, and adapt. CEOs who managed to survive the pandemic did so by committing to continuous change. Bold leaders create space for candor, before initiating awe-inspiring transformations.
Align with Organizational Goals
As a CEO who leads from the front, it is very important for employees to see that their chief executive’s goals and vision are aligned with the organization’s long-term plans. CEOs must be highly intelligent and engage in multi-stakeholder collaboration to achieve this result. Their mindset for success pushes them to consider everything from culture to autonomy to hiring practices while establishing expectations and targets.
Short-term goals are small milestones on the roadmap to forging new paths to success.
Dewar notes, “Resilience and humility go together. If you are grounded in your organization’s purpose, it gives you energy to navigate the storms. Humility also helps you to recognize that you don’t know everything, so in moments of crisis you reach out for help; you learn.”
Leading the Executives
How well a CEO works with their team sets the tone for top-down communication. Transformational leaders are highly intelligent and know how to inspire employees to go beyond what is expected. Their capacity to translate vision into reality comes from understanding the truth that a leader is responsible for managing the psychology of the team he or she leads. Successful CEOs understand that just like a well-oiled machine, a team must be in sync to execute greatness.
Lilach Asher-Topilsky, who served as the CEO of Israel Discount Bank, gives the analogy of a fist. Nothing can get through the lines of a tight fist when every finger is committed to holding the fort. She reveals that she used the psychology of the fist to galvanize her team and make them collaborate on everyday tasks.
Connect with the board and stakeholders
Often CEOs and boards have a contentious relationship. In leadership lessons from CEOs, many of the leaders talk about building trust with their boards through access to teams and transparency in their dealings. By building real relationships with their board members and other stakeholders, both parties were able to take advantage of each other’s expertise. Suddenly, steering the company to success became a joint-effort and all differences could be resolved much more smoothly.
One of the greatest mindsets to success is to make use of every opportunity presented to you. Understanding the value a critic brings to the table will help you recognize potential where you might initially see hostility.
Be Effective
The extraordinarily successful CEOs did only what they could do. Everything else was delegated to their respective experts. They whittled down their responsibilities to only include tasks where their unique input was required. In leadership lessons from CEOs, the McKinsey executives underline the importance of managing one’s calendar. If you have kept time aside for it, you need to be fully in. As a CEO, you are always in the spotlight and how you conduct yourself translates into the work culture of the organization.
Maintaining a Balance
An old adage says that too much medicine is also poisonous. As the captain of the ship, a CEO must sometimes fight against the current. But they are also responsible for maintaining a balance in the working of the organization. Balanced leadership requires continuous adjustments and being in touch with yourself and the outer world. Both rest and play are equally important to gain a fresh perspective on legacy problems. An often-ignored part of leadership, balance is one of the key components of the six mindsets for success.
As leaders, CEOs are responsible for taking care of their people. And successful leaders understand that emotional stability comes up with maintaining balance in all areas of life. To win at life, balance is non-negotiable.
Ultimately, leadership in any form is an on-going conversation. To become an exemplary leader, CEOs must have their finger on the pulse of the organization. Understanding your people is half the job done. Leadership lessons from CEOs shine a light on why the mindset for success fine tunes every other aspect of the job.
