ExpertCEO

Hello,

I am the Founder and CEO (a semi-newbie) of a start-up based in Redwood City, CA. While I have a great Advisory Board and an incoming Board of Directors who are all extremely helpful, I would like to know if there is either a CEO Creed, a CEO Affirmation or a CEO list of the top 100 things to do either daily, weekly or monthly to build a great company, retain/inspire great people and be a great CEO.

Your wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Wayne Sharp

Wayne,

This is a great question. I don't know of any top 100 lists, but perhaps our members can come up with some ideas. I will leave you with the first and most obvious one. 95% of the success of a company is almost always due to the quality of the executives you hire. If you hire great people, much of the rest follows. If you don't or you don't deal with your mis-hires, then it's a real drag.

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your response. In reply, I do have a great team, as we are a start-up (in the teen space) I have a CTO who has 3 start-ups under his belt and I have a CMO formerly of Yahoo and AOL so we are off on the right foot there.

Regards,

Wayne

Consider conventional wisdom, rules of thumb or advise - but don't just follow it.

Instead, be sure that any action you take is based on your company's specific circumstances, market and alike, and makes logical sense to you. Hoping for magic or relying on the unquestioned wisdom of others isn't a good strategy.

Hi Wayne, we created a five point list for CEOs and another for managers. There really is no silver bullet for this, but doing these five will take you a long way in the right direction.

I'm happy to discuss this further; feel free to give me a call at 866.265.7267; I'm generally available 8 am-11 pm Pacific time or email me, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If You’re A CEO

1. Foremost, you are guardian of the big picture. You must clearly identify the goals of the company, then work with your people to turn them into specifics. Get their buy-in by making sure they understand how their goals, the company’s, and others’ interact. The biggest rewards at all levels should go to those who understand the company’s goals, and ethically do whatever is necessary to achieve them — especially when it takes precedence over their personal goals.

2. You set the culture of the organization. If you’re political, secretive, nitpicking, or querulous, that is how your organization will be. No matter what, your people will do as you do, not as you say.

3. People produce best if they know, and help determine, the range of their control — this is the RampUp Management Box. Their decisions inside the box are final, decisions outside it require approval. Through discussion of their performance, the box will grow or shrink. Your company’s strength will increase in direct proportion to your people’s growth, so make their boxes as large as possible.

4. Never criticize an employee in the presence of others. Praise in public, criticize in private.

5. Every successful company must have a competitive edge. Enhance your people’s ability to do their jobs by clearly defining and communicating what it is.

Well first off, no one can do 100 things good or bad, so don't even try!

In addition to the points Miki makes, here are some others points to note:

- your job is to set objectives and to then have the team meet them. No point in being a CEO unless you can have people respond to your direction and then to achieve what it is you are tasking them to do.

- hiring/firing is crucial: hire the best people you can and don't compromise. If any of your direct reports aren't working out then a) sort out why (for example, you may be leading them poorly or they might not be up to the job) and b) lay out a plan to fix it (better goal setting, more accountability, go find someone better suited to the current stage the company has reached, etc.)

- going somewhere and altering course along the way is better than drifting aimlessly waiting for the perfect roadmap. Iteration is king because you learn so much with each cycle.

- yes, 100% key is setting the cultural tone from the top and from the start. Everything matters because your team is always looking at what you say and do as pointers on how they should act. (BTW, I took a quick look at your "under construction" site and video. You may want to rethink the FBS soundtrack choice, unless it's licensed of course in which case "great choice". And apologies if I accidentally hit the wrong site!)

- "a founder doth not a CEO automatically make". Be self-aware. Founders have a special attachment to their business that an outside CEO won't have. That's both good and bad. However, if you have outside investors then, frankly speaking, the only time they grade you on the founder bit is when they first write a cheque. After that, you will be measured as a CEO which can mean some very tough choices ahead.

Recap (and again you'll see these points over and over)
- You own the vision and the company strategy on how to get there
- You are the leader and so people will take their lead from you
- You own goal setting and accountability
- Investors originally back the founder but then the CEO better manage the use of their money wisely!
- You are also the Chief Communications Officer: make sure everyone is talking to everyone else inside and that you initially lead outside communications.
- Have fun or else revert to being the founder and find someone else to take the CEO role. VCs really do appreciate self-awareness in this one particular area like nothing else!

J

Wayne,

There is an excellent book that is a quick read that goes a long way to helping executives understand how to inspire, motivate and lead companies.

4 Obsessions of Extraordinary Executives – Patrick Lancioni (strategic planning, vision, clarity)

4 Obsessions

We recommend all of our CEO's read the book.

He has another book called the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team that is outstanding also.

5 Dysfunctions

George

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OpenView Partners

Blog: Software Strategy, Focus and Execution

Wayne,

George has recommended a couple of really good books that every CEO should read...

On my end, I have focused my entire blog on advising the early stage software CEOs... Here's some highlights you may want to check out:

The CEO Imperative - focus on the few things that matter bit.ly/duoinM

The CEO Imperative - Building a cohesive senior team bit.ly/cFXr9R

The CEO Imperative - Set the Annual Rhythm

The Board Imperative - A balanced and cohesive board bit.ly/6g5PYl

On another note, here's one you should read about product development:

Why SaaS Companies Suck at Making Usable Products bit.ly/c9f5ZR

I hope you find something in all of this to help you...

Thanks,
Firas Raouf
OpenView Venture Partners

Hi,

In reflecting on my own development as fairly new CEO, I've isolated 5 pointers that were vital for catalyzing my CEO learning curve.

1. As previously mentioned: Hire great people...but be careful not to mistaken an individual's great knowledge or skills in a competency area as enough. Your top execs must have strong leadership competencies and be aligned around a unified set of goals.
2. Regarding a unified set of goals....Always make time to revisit your mission statement and values. We do this monthly in our weekly meeting. We question it, affirm it, celebrate, and at times make changes to it. This has not been a rote ritual. Instead, it has been thought provoking and serves the function of getting us all on the same page in an environment where we're all stretching and many times find ourselves on different pages.
3. Get an executive coach or a mentor who is willing to see you on a regular, consistent basis. I have found this to be vital for my development (and maintenance). My greatest challenge as a CEO is how to make decisions when I'm being pulled in contrasting and many times contradicting directions- (typically by people who are smarter and more knowledgable than me). A good coach is able to neutralize this tension, providing an invaluable space for you to be you. In other words, for you to make quality, rational decisions that are not influenced by external pressures or stress. Vistage has a great program for CEO's, and there are tons of coaching firms out there (ours being one of them).
4. Find a 1 or 2 good resources that you like and stick with it religiously. Do not get sucked into the information overload syndrom. I subscribe to HBR daily management tips and read select HBR blogs on management, leadership competencies (comes to my email daily).
5. Read Stewart Friedman's Total Leadership to learn how to really do Work/Life balance. As a CEO, it's so easy to think about nothing other than the company 23h/day. However, this isn't good for you or the company (which needs a. fresh thinking and not perseveration (b. a CEO that has the energy to invigorate the company daily. I agree that there needs to be some degree of obsession to be a successful CEO. I think we need to be obsessed with balance though.

Hope some of this helps.

Regards,
Jonathan Kirschner

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aiirconsulting.com

WOW, you guys are awesome, this is greatly appreciated, maybe later Ken could collate it all and give away to Start-up CEO's driving them to Expert CEO.

I did send this out on Sat night to all my staff:
--------------------------------

Morning team,

I would like to bring your attention to the information below. The purpose of this is to start putting things in place here at MyVerse to make this the best company ever.

I will start with:

1) Diaries – I am going to encourage you all to keep a diary. I am sure you all have a camera on your PCs/Mac’s if you want to keep a video diary and if not, grab a note-book (the one I have supplied you on your desk). I would like you to keep a diary of your Personal thoughts, Spiritual thoughts and Work thoughts. This is only for your eyes and not, and I stress NOT for the companies or anyone else. There are many reasons to keep a diary but the purpose of this is so that when in life, you come up to a bump in the road you are traveling, you can look back through your diary and realize that the bump can be ridden over as you did with similar bumps previously.

2) Mentoring – Having been a Mentor for over 10 years, and having been and still being Mentored myself, I again am going to encourage you to consider a Mentor. A mentor can come in many shapes, sizes, flavors etc and is someone who can enhance your personal development/life, being a husband/wife, a mother/father, work/career, well being etc. If you have someone in mind so please ask them, if not, I (and MyVerse) are happy to put a mentoring program in place in the very near future to assist you. To give you an example, Andreas and I are being mentored by . . . . . . . . . I cannot tell you the value of having a Mentor, it’s truly incredible and inspiring. If you want to be a better husband/father, one idea is to start here www.waynesharp.com/humanitarian/

3) Inspiration – I want everyone to participate to inspire at least 5 people in the company a month. Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. There are many ways to inspire – compliment, affirmation, idea, caring, hard work, sharing etc. I encourage you to watch this video - www.values.com/tv_spots/99-The-Greatest and then a plethora of inspiration can be found here on the ‘Values’ site - www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots If you want ideas on inspiring, may I suggest a Google/Bing it.

4) Culture – I hope that we are building a great culture here but I am not sure as I do not hear from anyone if we are. So I would like you all to please inform me (when we meet one on one sometime this week) if we are, but better yet, of ways we can build a better company culture.

5) Zero Tolerance – It didn’t take long, our first rumor/gossip has started within the company and I have zero tolerance for it. Rumors/secrets corrupt cultures, cause back-stabbings and power-plays, and this company will have no part of it. This person will know who they are and are instructed to stop it immediately.

6) Personal Development – As the company grows, we will put in place tools/resources to:
Develop your potential
Reward your labors
Respect your private lives
And we will invest in you
To assist us in this, I would like you to give some thought to how we can help to develop you (trade journals, online industry sites, seminars/events), reward you, invest in you etc and tell me when we meet one on one sometime this week.

7) Requirements – what the company requires from you is:
To share in information
Give everyone an equal footing
Make decisions as a group (for the betterment of the company)
Serve each other
Share the rewards

8) Perks – Here are some ideas on perks that we can consider and implement as we grow:
Laundering – Pick up & Drop off
Serve in-house lunches
Send professional cleaners to your homes bi-weekly (and by the way some of you leave the kitchen bench, I think this may be a good idea)
Full paid leave of two weeks to help (full time) a non-profit of your choice
Bonus prizes (such as Hours/Tidyness/Productivity/Achievements)
Allowance – allowing 10% of your time researching projects of your own devise
Travel – those who travel abroad to receive an additional $5k & one week to broaden their horizons
Charge card – an allowance per annum for local restaurants
I would like you to rate these for our meeting.
---------------------------------------------

My Advisory Board liked it!

Regards,

Wayne Sharp

Hi Wayne,

I am a Chair for Vistage International -- www.vistage.com. I work with CEO's to help them to be better leaders, make better decisions and get better results. I have used the attached as a useful guide on what a CEO should focus on. Mainly 6 things:


1. Strategist. This function sets the future direction of your company.
2. Ambassador. Meet with your important customers and clients once or twice a year, not for a sales call but for an informal lunch or dinner.
3. Inventor. Success in business requires finding your customer’s pain and developing new products and services to relieve it. The inventor function ensures that the strategic direction of the company aligns around the customer’s pain.
4. Coach. Become a teacher, coach and mentor to your direct reports. Instill a culture of learning throughout all levels of the organization.
5. Investor. Treat your company as an investment. Know the market value of your business and strive to grow it. Improving market value should direct all decisions for the business and reward the clear focus and direction of the CEO.
6. Student. Stay active in some form of continued professional development -- not just in the your area of functional expertise but as a student of leadership.

Hope this helps.
Beth

Wayne- I highly recommend a booklet Swanson's unwritten rules of
management. It is a booklet written by William Swanson, former Chairman and CEO of Raytheon. It has 33 one page rules for CEO's such as "strive for Brevity" or "cultivate the habit of boiling matters down to the simplest terms"
And it is free.
Regards,
Bill Stopford
LoyalCommerce Systems

Suggest reading the following by Patrick Lencioni:

1) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - then convert it into the five functions of YOUR team. Modify to why YOUR team is functional. Restate as the positive rather than the negative.

2) The Four Obessions of an Extraoridanry Executive

In general, a CEO must nurture and cultivate the company culure, strategy and vision to success.