When it comes to running a business, every CEO wants to know if they’re making the best decisions for the financial future of their company. However, it’s virtually impossible for the CEO to be all things to all people which makes them overworked, exhausted, and sometimes even paralyzed not knowing who they can go to for advice. Every CEO deserves to have a business that maximizes cash flow and profits.
Most CEOs spend their time buried in the day-to-day routine and have difficulty seeing beyond tomorrow. Spending no time thinking about the business, they don’t lead their people as well as they could. To lead well means escaping from the office on a regular basis for an hour or so. By working on themselves and the business, CEOs rise from frustrated and overwhelmed to clear-headed and confident.
This was the certainly the case for a CEO I work with. I’ll call him James. James was named CEO of this professional services firm with 50+ people. He inherited the role from an old school CEO who believed that the business comes to you and in top-down management. This style left holes in the organization when it came to business development, talent development, and talent management. James knew he couldn’t do it alone, he needed help.
Now, James is collaborative and consensus-building in his approach. Together, we identified three areas of focus: business development, talent development, and talent management like the 3 legs of a stool. It takes all three for the stool to stand. Starting out, James felt like he was pushing a rock uphill. He realized that he needed to spend some time away from the office for his thinking time.
Fast forward three years, James has implemented business development, talent development, and talent management initiatives. The fruit of those initiatives is increased revenue and profit for the firm, a workforce that is collaborative in nature and actively recruits experienced talent to fill gaps, and hiring new talent to cultivate and develop. The business and its people are thriving because James paid the upfront price of spending the time thinking needed to be clear-headed and confident in the firm’s direction.
So, what about you? Are overwhelmed and frustrated trying to be all things to all people? Are you so busy working in the business, you have no time to escape and work on the business? To start, pick a one-hour block of time next week, block it out and do it. If you wait around for the right time to appear, it never will.
P.S. I have yet to have one person tell me taking time out of the office was a waste of time. You end up being much more efficient and effective.
