THE FOUR STEPS TOWARDS BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL CEO

 

THE FOUR  STEPS TOWARDS

 BECOMING  A  SUCCESSFUL CEO

The challenge now lies in how to convert all this into a roadmap for success in the first year of being a CEO. It was easier being a head-of-department but now to take charge of a whole company or SBU is a quick rise in your horizon levels  Let us begin step by step... Ram Charan world renowned management guru summarizes  it all  in one statement

“The leader must be in charge of getting things done by running

the three core processes—picking other leaders,

setting the strategic direction, and conducting operations.” 

STEP 1.  MAGNIFY  THE ORGANIZATION VISION &  MISSION

A CEO needs to seek different perspectives and channel all of them to the chosen corporate mission. This trait is conspicuous in CEOs who monitor trends affecting organizations, grasp changes in the environment, encourage employees to contribute ideas that could improve performance, accurately differentiate between important and unimportant issues, and give the appropriate weight to stakeholder concerns. Leaders who do well on this dimension typically base their decisions on sound analysis and avoid the many biases to which complex decisions are prone.

 

Successful CEO’s make the most of their talent for using fact-based analysis to spot industry shifts and to understand their own companies’ sources of competitive advantage as a foundation for clear, differentiated strategies. Organic growth is a core concern, and driving business performance to meet tough organic targets is a critical part of the architect’s role. By monitoring competitors, these strategists can challenge their own organizations to set ambitious targets and reach them. Successful CEO’s  also focus on driving mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and other opportunities. They may “own” the deal-sourcing and integration teams and work to find the right acquisition targets in line with a strategic vision.

 

Leadership isn’t really about you; it is about the direction you are leading people towards. If you can’t be fully invested in that destination, you may be in the wrong place. If you want people who understand the mission and purpose of your organization and will invest their time, talent and heart into their work, how can you expect it if they don’t see it from you?Yes, you must be able to communicate the mission and purpose clearly, but it is far more important that people see you living it first. As always, people watch your feet, more than your lips. If you want more commitment from your team, start with yourself.If you aren’t fully committed to your organization, ask yourself what you could do to change that. If you don’t believe you can, you owe it to yourself, your team and the organization to find someplace else to lead.

 

STEP 2. LEVERAGE YOUR TOP MANAGEMENT TALENT

Successful CEO’s are leaders who are supportive understand and sense how other people feel. By showing authenticity and a sincere interest in those around them, they build trust and inspire and help colleagues to overcome challenges. They intervene in group work to promote organizational efficiency, allaying unwarranted fears about external threats and preventing the energy of employees from dissipating into internal conflict. Experience shows that different business situations often require different styles of leadership. For organizations investing in the development of their future leaders, prioritizing these four areas is a good place to start.

Leadership isn’t only about you, it is about the people that you are leading. If you don’t believe in and can’t be committed to them and their success, you are likely in the wrong job.While this commitment is most directly about those who “report” to you, depending on your situation, the group of individuals you need to be committed to might be broader and larger than that. Due to your role, the organization has entrusted you to get a return on the investment made each day in your team. If you want to think about it transactionally, you are responsible for getting high productivity, quality, safety and more. More holistically, you are responsible for making these resources more valuable through their development, and growth.This isn’t just sound-good, feel-good advice from me – there is an organizational responsibility to be a great steward of your human resources.You can’t or won’t do any of these things nearly well enough unless your commitment to them and their success is high.

 

STEP 3 .COMMITMENT TO  EXCELLENCE IN EXECUTION

 

Operating with a strong results orientation. Leadership is about not only developing and communicating a vision and setting objectives but also following through to achieve results. Leaders with a strong results orientation tend to emphasize the importance of efficiency and productivity and to prioritize the highest-value work.In the final analysis, it is results that count; the best vision, strategy and operating plans are useless if they are not diligently executed.  Fulfilling the role of follow-through in a structured, thorough way involves five steps:

·         setting milestones for key operating plan deliverables;

·         measuring results against those milestones;

·         analyzing any results that fall short of the milestones;

·         prescribing corrective actions;

·         and updating the operating plan. 

 

One of the key benefits of a structured and thorough follow-through approach is that it serves as an early warning system for your company which will dramatically increase the odds for effective execution.

STEP 4. INVESTMENT IN YOURSELF

While Leadership is about the organizational outcomes and other people’s, paradoxically you can’t leave yourself out of the equation. If you want to serve the organization and your team, you must be committed to yourself too. In this light, how many of the following questions can you answer in the affirmative?

1. Am I the type of CEO I admire in others?
2. Am I building a personal foundation of inspired Leadership?
3. Am I aware of my personal Leadership impact on others?Are you willing to invest of your time and energy to get better at the challenging role of Leadership?

 Leadership is an act of selflessness, but you can’t serve others if you don’t take care of yourself too. Your commitment to yourself matters greatly, but only in the context of the other two commitments. You might feel I have left other commitments out – and while I agree there may be many other things or people you might need to be committed to, my goal has been to highlight the most important and those that apply to you regardless of your industry, position or situation.

With best wishes

Dr Wilfred Monteiro