Saying Yes
When we bring a CEO mindset it encourages us to shift us to making sure what we are working on is what I am going to call an ROI generating activity.
An ROI generating activity can look like a range of things; it doesn’t necessarily mean something that is going to make money right then and there. What it might look like is attending a networking event, with the idea that you will create connections with others that will lead to a profitable business relationship.
It might mean taking the time to mentor a junior staff member, because investing in that relationship is going to improve the performance of that team member, which ultimately grows the business.
And when we are in that position where we are running our own business or leading a team at the C-suite level, an ROI generating activity can sometimes be long term initiatives.
There are things that you absolutely need to be delegating. If you are a sole trader, this might be more challenging. But if you are leading a bigger team, you should not be getting involved in admin, or things like content creation.
So not only is it about taking the time to step back and really say “Is what I am doing going to be supporting the growth and profitability of this company or this team” but it is also about letting go of some control. That can be a challenging thing for a lot of leaders, especially if you have built a company from the ground up and are used to doing it all yourself.
Some of us are also naturally more controlling than others, and can find it hard to let other people take responsibility for things either in our own business or in our team that we might have always taken care of, or in a lot of cases it can be something that we like actioned in a particular way.
The CEO mindset shift can help us realise that our true value doesn’t lie in doing everything ourselves or in being rigid about how things are achieved. It can be a big shift to make, but if you really pull back and ask is this an ROI generating activity that I should be focusing my energy on, or can someone else support me on this one.
Saying No
This also gives you the power to say no to certain opportunities. When we are really clear on what it is that we want to achieve, either for our business or for our own professional development, it really gives clarity to what actions are going to support us getting there. But similarly to that, it gives clarity on what is not going to push us in that direction.
Saying no can be really hard, and not just professionally. We might feel that we are missing out if we say no to certain opportunities. This can be especially true if you are a small business, just getting started or trying to grow, we do say yes to everything. It’s natural to not want to miss out on something that might end up delivering a new client or building our customer base.
What can really help focus our energy is bringing it right back to the mission statement of the business, what it is that you really want to deliver, who you serve and how you go about that.
Start by spending some time focusing on what your business is really designed to do, who it is looking to help and essentially why this business is in business. If you spend even just a short amount of time reflecting on exactly what you are looking to achieve, in your role or for the business as a whole, this can really help clarify what you say no to.
How we conduct ourselves
I want to really start this by saying that you can be showing these leadership qualities that I am going to talk about no matter where you sit in an organisation. You don’t have to be in that top job or even in a traditional leadership role to be behaving like a leader each day. I call this tactical leadership; the key take away being that you can be a leader in your organisation without any direct reports.
When we talk about leadership characteristics, there are really 5 key ones that are supported by research:
- Integrity
- Strategic decision making
- Communication skills
- Persuasion
- Decisiveness
I would add two more to this list, which are empathy and a positive attitude. A positive attitude is the energy that you bring daily, but for me what is key to this leadership trait is having an evenness of temperament and a predictability of behaviour even in stressful situations. Especially in stressful situations.
This is so important for our CEO mindset – because the best leaders are those that we can rely on to behave in a way we expect when things around us are unexpected. And that is really the cornerstone of bringing that CEO mindset into your workplace and into your team – whether you are managing people or not.
The energy that we bring to the day
This ties into the energy that someone with a CEO mindset brings to their day. Each day I want you to think to yourself “I am the CEO so what does that mean for how I am showing up today”
And this is bringing all those things that I have talked about together – how you interact with others, what it is that you are prioritising and your behaviour each day. And again I want to reiterate that you can do this no matter where you sit in that org chart – whether you are the CEO or not is not what is important here – what is important is that you show up each day making those choices because of the mindset you bring.
