What to do when you are the CEO.
Getting Buy-In
You get buy-in when people feel they are part of the decision and their input matters
When people are given more influence, they feel more invested.
Don’t discuss issues verbally. It is both inefficient and ineffective.
Instead, require that anyone who presents an Issue at a team meeting do so in writing.
The write-up should include both a detailed description of the Issue as well as their Proposed Solution. They cannot say “I don’t know.” They must at least present a guess. It must be phrased boldly, in direct terms.
All issues should be presented at the weekly Team Meeting.
Allow 5 minutes to discuss each Proposed Solution. If consensus is reached in that time – great. If not, don’t spend more time debating.
The Four Zones
- Zone of incompetence: other people do better than you
- Zone of competence: you can do it just fine, but others are just as good as you
- Zone of excellence: things you are better at than others. You will want to keep doing these things, but this is dangerous. You need to move away from these things.
- Zone of genius: these are the things that you are uniquely good at in the world and that you love to do. This is where you should be driving toward spending most, if not all, of your time.
Decision Making
If you want the most effective and efficient decision-making process, require that anyone who wants to discuss an issue write it up, along with the desired solution, ahead of time.
The hard way: Write an extraordinarily thorough analysis from the get-go.
The easy way: Write a draft, circulate it to the meeting participants before the meeting, and invite comments and questions.
This method, though time-consuming for the sponsor, yields extraordinarily thoughtful decisions in a very short amount of time.
Values And Culture
- You don’t choose your values. You have them.
- Use your values as a guide to who you hire and when you fire.
- Print and distribute your values
- Don’t underestimate the value of FUN as a value.
- Don’t forget to celebrate. Make an effort to publicly acknowledge achievements.
- Don’t measure hours. Measure output. However, it’s still key that there is a core period of time when everyone shows up to the office so that collaboration can happen.
- You prevent office politics by never allowing lobbying to be successful.
Issue Identification
Ask each person to pretend that they’re the CEO and answer “What are the most important issues (max 3) for me to solve in the next 90 days?
Ask people to write down their thoughts about the company when they source their Joy, Excitement, Sadness, Anger and Fear.
Inbox Zero: Work On Your Top Goals
Inefficient leaders waste a lot of time reaching out about or responding to, one-off issues in real-time. A much more efficient method is to batch your issues and discuss them all at once.
Check email only twice a day: morning and afternoon.
Schedule two hours each day to work on your Top Goal only. And do this every single workday. Period.
The earlier in the day you schedule this Top Goal time, the better, so as to avoid other issues (and people) from pressing for your attention.
On-Time and Present
- Do not waste other people’s time. It is disrespectful and counterproductive.
- When you anticipate being late, let the other party know as soon as possible.
- Be present. Be focused on what’s being discussed. Do not check your messages. Phone and computer away.
Don’t Pretend To Thank
o not feign humility by downplaying the act with statements like “It was nothing, anyone could have done it.” No. The person is trying to make you feel appreciated. Anything other than “thank you” will rob them of their goal.
The Initial Team
- Find a partner who has complementary skills to yours.
- Give up a large percentage of the company. It’s worth it.
- Do not create a 50/50 partnership. While 50/50 sounds like an ideal, it actually leads to real pain if there is no easy way to break a deadlock.
- Founding teams should never grow beyond six until there is a true product-market fit(PMF).
PMF is having created a product that customers are finding so much value in that they are willing to both buy it and recommend it later.
Metrics that show whether PMF has been achieved include: revenue, renewal rates, NPS (net promoter score).
Goal Tracking And Responsibility
Never assign someone an action without them agreeing to it verbally or in writing.
Encourage people to use their own individual tools for tracking their specific actions. Keep the group goal tracker high level.
When more than one person shares a responsibility, it often does not get done well, or at all.
One person is assigned to each function in the company. Maintain and update a list of responsibilities as they change.
Great CEOs Use These Handy Tips
- You need to document everything.
- Be more interested in learning than in being right.
- You are not making a product. You are solving a customer problem. It is critical that you continually live with that customer problem.
- Assign each new team member a buddy with whom they’ll check in each day for fifteen minutes for the first two weeks.
Loudest Voice in the Room: Ensure Fairness In Meetings
Be aware of who is in the room when you have a group discussion. Know that work titles will influence other people’s answers.
To avoid influencing other people’s ideas, have people write down their votes or thoughts before you share your perspective.
Let junior people speak and ask questions first.
Sloppy Agreements
Sloppy agreements are when people don’t show up on time, and don’t complete the goals that they declare.
The antidote is Impeccable Agreements. They are 1) precisely defined and 2) fully agreed to (which almost always means in writing) by all relevant people.
There must be consequences for breaking agreements.
If you can’t meet the agreement, then you have an obligation to let other members of the agreement circle know as soon as possible.
Check Your Energy
If you can spend 75-80% of your time doing things that energize you – magic will occur.
Audit your time and figure out how much of it is spent on activities that energize you and what activities drain you. Outsource or delegate the things that drain you as much as possible.
Your physical health is paramount.
Take care of your mental health. Build a support group.
Get a therapist, even if you don’t think you need one. You will find it invariably useful.
Gratitude
- Focus on the positives.
- We perform our best when we are having fun and feeling good about ourselves.
- Say or write down one thing that you’re thankful for each day.
- Be appreciative. Tell people when they’ve done something good.
- Set aside 1 hour a week to be intentionally appreciative. Follow-up and outreach.
Transparency
- Don’t hide negative information.
- Our imaginations are much more powerful than reality.
- Share all relevant information with your team, both negative and positive. Let them adapt.
Conflict Resolution
Interpersonal conflict is almost always due to people:
- Not fully sharing their thoughts and feelings
- Not feeling heard
Prove to people that you have heard them by summarizing what you just said back to you until they say “that’s right!” Once you assure them that you’ve heard them, then, and only then, will they be open to what you have to say in response.
Sales: Customer Development
Identify the customer’s specific challenges by asking the right questions.
You need to understand your customer’s pain before you present your solution.
Over time, you will want to build an inventory of problem and solution statements for the different kinds of customers and different product features your product serves.
Don’t hire salespeople right away.
In most cases, salespeople will never be able to sell better than the founders and they won’t be able to sell the product if you are not able to.
To thrive, salespeople need to have a very clear product offering to sell and a very clear direction on who to sell to.
