Welcome to the Bottom Line Top Line Podcast with Carol Bartlett, Jol Hunter, and Chris Spurvey.
In the first five episodes of this show, we take a deep dive into a manifesto that Jol Hunter wrote a number of years ago about his 500 or so visits with leaders of organizations throughout Atlantic Canada, the rest of Canada, and parts of the United States.
In that manifesto, Jol Hunter describes the four factors that cause that gap between businesses’ current performance and potential performance: CEO time, process discipline, relationships as the source of all revenue, and members of the senior leadership team being on the same page.
To download the document, scroll to the bottom of these show notes and fill in the form.
Today we talk in detail about the first point – the importance of CEO time and the four areas successful CEOs invest their time in.
We also discuss these topics:
- CEO personality types
- CEO as salesperson
- what makes a successful CEO
- Is humility important for a CEO?
You’ll gain a lot of value from listening closely to the show while following along with these notes.
If you have feedback on the show, by all means reach out to any of us. Enjoy!
If you have feedback on the show, by all means, reach out to any of us. Enjoy!
What Makes a Successful CEO
There are certain characteristics that make successful CEOs. Certainly, the ones that build a good team around them and depend upon that team—and how they do that—is one of the most effective things that they can do.
We always say, ‘Hire people that are smarter than you.’ Not everybody does that. Not everybody’s comfortable in doing it.
I find the quickness of CEOs in their execution is very telling.
If you sit with business owners and you are able to articulate a savings of however much per year if they just modify this one process according to corporate performance and best practices, and they’re like, ‘Well, we’ll think about it,’. . . A very successful CEO won’t. That will be executed in the afternoon.
The characteristics of timing, who they [the CEOs] put around them, and the gratitude that they exhibit are very telling. When you walk into a room, you know who you’re dealing with.
CEO Time
The most successful CEOs tend to invest their time in four areas. However, not all of their time will necessarily be characterized as CEO time. A CEO may have multiple hats that they’re wearing, but some portion of their time—and, in larger organizations, perhaps 100% of their time—could be described as CEO time.
He may be the VP of Production as well, so he’ll be doing some time in production. However, successful CEOs also have some very dedicated CEO time, be it part-time or full-time. Inside that, they seem to invest their time in four distinct areas in order to ensure the success of the organization.
Four Areas Successful CEOs Invest Time In
1. Ensuring that the business is ready for tomorrow. This involves two aspects:
- Looking out the front window, deliberately, to seewhat’s coming
- Doing what needs to be done to be ready for what’s coming
CEOs must gauge the market, stay on top of trends in the industry, connect with other business leaders, and ensure that their organizations are doing what needs to be done to prepare for the future.
2. Guarding the business’s values. An organization’s values are the agreed behaviors by its member which creates the organization’s reputation.
A CEO is the guardian of the organization’s reputation. He or she needs to understand how employees, customers, and members of the community experience the organization, review whether those experiences are aligned with the organization’s values, and then make adjustments accordingly.
Mentions
Connect with Carol, Jol and Chris on LinkedIn.