CEO Leadership Series: What does it take to be a Successful (and Effective) CEO?

The  CEO’s leadership style is one of the biggest indicators of a company’s future success. With this in mind, how do you think you’re doing? Are you spending time identifying which traits that are serving you and your business and which may be holding you back?

Times have changed and some of the old ways of describing the duties and responsibilities of a CEO have changed too.

There are many demands placed on CEOs – meeting targets, maximising results, managing stakeholders, maintaining key client relationships, keeping on top of industry trends and developments, focusing on leadership style, inspiring and influencing your team – to name a few. A CEO needs to be close enough to know what’s going on in every area and far enough to give direct reports enough bandwidth and independence to perform at their best.

So, if you’re still working your way to becoming a CEO, then it’s important that you pay attention.

And if you’re on top and want to stay there, take a look at these 5 traits of a successful CEO. (They are non-negotiable if you want to stay in the game.)

1.       Know your target audience. I’m not talking about their name, age, and occupation. You have to dig deeper than that. Get personal. You have to be willing to find out what really matters to them and what keeps them up at night. This is when you understand their joys and their pain points so that you can be the one to help relieve their pain with your products/services.

2.       Be willing to take your own personal inventory. No-one’s perfect. You’re not perfect either. It’s critical that you know your strengths and weaknesses and periodically ask yourself if you’re still the right person for the job. You serve your company best by honouring it with the truth. If you know you have work to do to rise to the occasion, acknowledge that and then do it.

3.       Always seek to form new relationships. Whenever possible, scout networking opportunities to make alliances with influencers who can offer the opportunity for mutually beneficial rapports that affect both of your businesses in positive ways.

4.       Know how to align your team and get them on the same page. Clarity is key. Managing a group of people and doing it in such a way that they are glad to fulfil their duties can be tricky. After all, there are many personalities working together that in any normal situation one would expect some friction. A great CEO knows how to set realistic expectations up front. That way everyone has a clear, well-defined outline of what to expect and what is expected of them. Use your management team to help facilitate this goal.

5.       Keep your passion in perspective. Qualities you possess that allow you to motivate your team can sometimes pull you into making bad choices if not tempered with the ability to see things as they are and not as you hope for them to be. Perspective is key and having an accurate and realistic perspective can save your company from building their strategy around a false narrative.

Did you enjoy reading about these 5 traits of a successful CEO?

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below or contact me and let’s chat about how I can help you take stock of your leadership style to identify which traits are serving you and which can be changed to make your leadership style even better.