If you're a CEO, you've now learned most of your time is spent doing none of the things you thought a CEO did before you started. Most of us imagine we hit a level of success with our business and we become the lifelong politician who has made a career of showing up to things and smiling while your team does all the work. But in reality nobody shakes your hand because employees prefer handouts, everything's remote anyway, and there's no babies to kiss or ribbons to cut.
Either way, I have a secret I want to let you in on.
CEO doesn't stand for Chief Executive Officer.
"Well, then what does CEO stand for?"
It is an acronym for ALL the roles you play in your company. Odds are you don't have any executives anyway, so pay attention:
Chief Explainer Officer
This one hits hard. I just know it does. Remember the days when you were a team of one and you didn't have to explain or answer to anyone. You didn't need written out processes, recorded loom videos of How To's or company handbooks. You did what you want when you wanted.
Now you have a team, and the most valuable thing you can do for that team is to ensure they have complete clarity on where you're going as a company, what you want, when you want it, and how it should be done. If repeating began with an 'e' it would be on this list. If you're spending your day explaining (or repeating yourself), don't be frustrated because it's in the title and it means you're probably doing a good job managing people.
Chief Educating Officer
Have you ever hired someone with a ton of experience and wondered why they still needed you as a leader? When CEOs don't think the acronym stands for educating, they think they can hire experience and step away.
As a CEO, you're a teacher. Even for A players. You should know your business and industry better than anyone else. This means no matter how senior or experienced the people you hire are, it's your job to teach them what you know about what you are doing as a company.
Chief Encouragement Officer
Why did William Wallace need to paint his face blue and ride a horse across a battlefield? Because people need encouragement to do hard things from a leader they want to do the hard things for.
I advise CEOs who don't feel like they have the practical skillset to excel in their role to begin with encouragement of their team and watch what happens. Everyone needs encouragement daily. It's a critical component of human relationship and potential. As stated by Rolfe Carawan in this Tedx Talk, "Encouragement is the sound that releases potential." It is like injecting self-belief into someone's veins. If you have all the same human feelings they do, which is likely, watch what encouraging others does for your own confidence to overcome self-doubt.
Is it fair to always be the one who needs to encourage others? No. It's a privilege.
Chief Example Officer
You set the standard you expect others to follow. I have worked with many CEOs who believe their job is to create a set of rules others are expected to follow. Little did they realize our employees care only for the rules if we lead by example by respecting them ourselves. Frequently as a CEO, you must ask yourself, am I leading by example?
Asking that question alone can transform your leadership.
Chief Energy Officer
What percent of companies remain on an up and to the right trajectory?
0%
You will plateau. You will climb mountains. You will find yourself in valleys. Businesses are built in the monotony of daily tasks and virtual meetings are soul sucking. Energy is infectious and it's your job to be the can of Red Bull your team needs to drink as it charges through its Black Friday preparation.
Practically this means you must do two things:
- Preserve your own energy. How do you do that? By having a life outside of work that is so exciting and life giving that it refuels the batteries for when we are focused on work. In a strange way, work charges our life batteries and life charges our work batteries. If one charger is broken, the battery will drain in both areas.
- Audit the energy of your team. If your team is burning out, you're complicit. You aren't responsible for managing their time, and they need accountability for their choices which contribute, but you need to be aware of the current energy levels of the people you're counting on. Great leaders know when to stop and rest.
Chief Enablement Officer
The term enable has a bad rap nowadays as it's often used as a way to describe a negative contributor to a detrimental behavior. But enablement is giving someone the authority or means to do something. Resource allocation is a top management principle of CEO life, and you make your decisions on it through three critical questions around enablement:
- Enabling the Revenue: Have I made proper decisions with money to reach the financial goals we've set as a company?
- Enabling the Organization: Have I structured my company properly through people to reach the goals we've set as a company?
- Enabling the Individuals: Have I given members of my team everything they need to succeed in their individual roles?
I hope these newly outlined acronyms for CEO have shed new light on what it means to hold the title you do. It's an honor and a grind. Wear it proud.
If I missed any, let me know and I'll add them.
With purpose,
KC Holiday