Do you know the 7 biggest challenges most CEOs face? Do you want to know if you face any? Listen now.
Glenn Gow’s Biography
Glenn Gow was the founder and CEO of Crimson Consulting Group, where he ran the company for 25 years. He hold an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSBA in Quantitative Management from the University of Florida.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn…
- Are you trying to raise money?
- Do you wish you could scale faster?
- Are you overwhelmed with the massive responsibilities of being a CEO?
- Do you have someone on your team that difficult to manage?
- Are you still refining your product/market fit?
- Do you report to a Board of Directors?
- Do you ever have to deal with a crisis?
Quotables
- “I help you figure out what you really want, and then get it.” – Glenn Gow
- “They have a mentality that they can become better, that they can improve.” – Glenn Gow
- “If you take the Fortune 500 and you look at those CEOs, they have coaches, you just don’t know about them. They’re in the background. They’re helping those CEOs overcome their biggest challenges.” – Glenn Gow
- “So often a CEO knows that they’re very skilled in certain areas and they recognize they’re not so skilled in others. That’s just, all of us humans are that way, but they also recognize that uniquely because they’re a CEO, they need to be competent at every function in the company.” – Glenn Gow
Links & Resources Mentioned…
- Glenn’s Website – https://www.glenngow.com/
- Glenn’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngow/
- Glenn’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/glenngow1
- Glenn’s YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIQXfmIYBCVefL4-tiEGt8A
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(light music)
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- Welcome back to the Get
Unstuck & On Target Podcast.
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I'm Mike O'Neill with Bench Builders
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and we help growing companies,
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especially manufacturers,
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improve their people,
process, and planning systems
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so they can scale smarter and faster.
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Joining me is Glenn Gow.
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Glenn is the CEO therapist.
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He was a CEO for 25 years,
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Glenn now coaches CEOs
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to perform at their highest level
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to achieve both success and happiness.
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The kinds of things
that he helps CEOs with
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is he helps them create clarity,
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to recognize the strengths and weaknesses,
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understand their blind spots,
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create structure and team alignment,
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scale their business effectively,
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and lastly, thrive as a CEO.
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Welcome, Glenn.
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- Mike, it's a real joy to be here.
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Thank you for inviting me.
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- Well, I'm glad you're part of this
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because I love as a starting point,
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you describe yourself
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and it may be that someone
other originally coined this
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as the CEO therapist.
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- Yes.
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That that came about
because my clients mention
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that much of the time we're
working on operations,
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but some of the time we're
working on the mental game.
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And it turns out that I
had a coach for 17 years
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when I was a CEO
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and a big part of my
learning was the mental game.
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I didn't realize how
important it was, Mike,
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while I was a CEO until I had that coach.
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So now I help CEOs understand
there is a mental game
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and that they can improve
in that mental game,
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and that's an important
area for them to focus on.
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And the benefit is the company
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will perform at a higher level,
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the individual will often
perform at a higher level,
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and as I mentioned,
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they'll usually be happier
in their role as a result.
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- How long have you
been coaching full time?
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- Coaching full time, two years,
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but I've been coaching
for about seven years
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because after I was a CEO,
I went into venture capital,
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began coaching the CEOs of
our portfolio companies.
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And that's where I discovered
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that this was a area of the world I loved,
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the assistance to CEOs,
the working with CEOs,
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the helping them in every
way I possibly could.
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And that's why I've chosen this
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as my current passion career.
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- Well, my sense is already,
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you had the forethought
early in your tenure as a CEO
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to engage a coach, you mentioned 17 years,
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plus venture capitalists,
plus you've been doing this.
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You embrace coaching quite some time back,
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coaching particularly coaches for CEOs.
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Is that something that you have seen
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just really explode in
the last decade or so?
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- Well, there's an acknowledgement, Mike,
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with many, many people
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that there's a reason
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that the world's greatest
athletes have coaches.
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They're already the
world's greatest athlete
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and they bring in a coach.
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And the reason is they have a mentality
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that they can become better,
that they can improve.
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It isn't about whether
you're good or not today,
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it's about, do you want to improve?
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In fact, I'll tell you a little secret.
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If you take the Fortune 500
and you look at those CEOs,
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they have coaches, you
just don't know about them.
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They're in the background.
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They're helping those CEOs
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overcome their biggest challenges.
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So it's been around and only recently
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has it really become obvious to everyone.
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Oh, there is this thing
called CEO coaching
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that could be helpful.
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And once a coach, or sorry,
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once a CEO determines that
they're ready for a coach
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and they're willing to listen and grow,
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then the improvements
a CEO can see in that
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due to that relationship are phenomenal.
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So that's what I see happening.
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- So what you're sharing is
it's not that CEO coaches
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is a new phenomenon, but
the awareness of that,
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and you make an interesting point.
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If the vast majority,
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if not all CEOs at the Fortune
500 level, have a coach,
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then it's clear that that could attribute
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to why they are in the
roles that they're in.
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- Exactly, exactly.
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- Glenn, you made an interesting point
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and that is when people
hear the word coaching,
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they might make the wrong assumption.
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You pointed out that if
professional athletes
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are already world class,
but they also have a coach,
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they see opportunities to get better.
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You pointed out that you
are working with CEOs
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that really are very effective,
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who wanna be even more effective.
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Is that a pretty good description?
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- It's exactly right, it's exactly right.
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So often a CEO knows
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that they're very skilled in certain areas
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and they recognize they're
not so skilled in others.
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That's just, all of us
humans are that way,
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but they also recognize that
uniquely because they're a CEO,
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they need to be competent at
every function in the company.
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They can't ignore manufacturing.
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They can't ignore sales,
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they can't ignore finance
or whatever it might be
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because they don't feel
they're good at it.
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They have to up their game.
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And part of my job is
to help them understand,
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help them become self-aware
about where they're strong,
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where they're not so strong
and what to do about those,
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how to take advantage of their strengths
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and how to strengthen the
areas where they're weaker
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so that they can perform at a higher level
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and they can get the company
to perform at a higher level.
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- What you bring to the mix is unique.
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You were a CEO for 25 years.
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- That's right.
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- You literally can walk the talk.
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And I suspect that your CEO
clients immediately sense that.
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- Well, Mike, I tell 'em, look,
I've made so many mistakes.
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I can learn from those.
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And I wanna prevent you from
making the same mistakes
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because mistakes in business
are really expensive.
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And I can't exactly predict the future,
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but I can get pretty close sometimes.
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And I can say, you know, if
we continue down this path,
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here's what's likely to happen.
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Maybe we should look at
a slightly different way
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of approaching this issue
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and here's why I'll share my experience.
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And the other thing I love doing
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is now I never reveal
who my CEOs are, Mike,
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but I learn from my CEOs.
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And so I find myself at least once a week,
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having a conversation with the CEO
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about what I just learned
from someone else,
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these are recent best practices.
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And I get excited about
learning those best practices
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and sharing them with my other CEOs.
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- You know, in a parallel fashion,
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one of the biggest benefits
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that I personally and professionally
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have gotten from hosting a podcast
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is the opportunity to spend time
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with the Glenn Gows of the world,
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because we're not only
recording the podcast,
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but we've had a conversation prior.
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I get a chance to know you.
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I get a chance to know
how you help your clients.
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And I have been richly
blessed by that interaction.
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And you'll probably
note, as we're talking,
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I'm writing down, as you say things,
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because it's something that can benefit me
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and if it can benefit my clients,
then I can pass it along.
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So that's great way of saying it.
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- Well, thank you, Mike.
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And, and we're here,
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you and I to share great
information, insights,
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to be helpful to anyone who's listening.
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So I hope people listening are getting,
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all you need is one nugget of information
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out of a good podcast and
that makes it all worth it.
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- Well, we hope we can get at
least that, you know, Glenn,
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let's talk about the role of a CEO.
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- Sure.
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- We have listeners who may
very well be in that role.
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We have listeners who
may aspire to be a CEO.
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Describe in your experience,
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what are the themes that
one might be mindful of
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if you're gonna be effective as a CEO,
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what are some of those absolutes?
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- Well, here's the first
and most important absolute,
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and probably the hardest
thing for anyone in that role
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to acknowledge and understand,
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which is if good things
happen in the company,
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the CEO needs to acknowledge themselves
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and pat themselves on the back.
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Now, it's really interesting
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because most CEOs do not do that.
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They say, oh, we had a great quarter.
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Now, how are we gonna have a
better quarter next quarter?
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And we just go focus on doing that.
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So it's important to first acknowledge
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that when good things happen,
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it's due to the efforts of the CEO.
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But here's the flip side,
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the flip side is that if
there's anything in the company
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that's not going the way
you want it to go as a CEO,
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it's your fault.
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Now I hated learning that
when I was a CEO, Mike,
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I said that can't be right,
that doesn't make any sense,
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it's not my fault.
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Well, when you really start to understand
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the role of the CEO,
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if something's not happening
the way you wanted to,
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it is your fault.
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Either that means you
hired the wrong people,
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or you enabled someone to hire someone
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that was the wrong person,
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or you didn't institute cultural values
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where people understood
the right thing to do,
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or you didn't measure
people appropriately,
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or you didn't take corrective action,
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but it all comes back to the CEO.
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And that's both a great thing
and a heavy responsibility.
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Once you understand that,
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you begin to understand that
you need to act differently.
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You need to communicate differently
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to everybody in the company,
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because you are the center
of what is going to happen
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in that company
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and it comes with great responsibility,
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but it also can be phenomenally rewarding
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when you see people executing
against a shared goal
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that you've created in a way
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where everybody's rowing together.
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A very hard place to get,
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but it's very fulfilling
when you get there.
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- You answered that so beautifully.
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No one else is going to ask that question.
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We did discuss prior all the things
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that we could talk about.
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One of the things that really intrigued me
00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:09.870
is in your work with CEOs,
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all CEOs face challenges, many challenges,
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but I'd like to maybe spend some time
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kind of digging into some
that you see very, very often.
00:11:23.250 --> 00:11:26.310
And the one that caught my attention
00:11:26.310 --> 00:11:31.310
is that you may have a CEO
who wants to scale faster.
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Do you find that wanting to scale faster
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is one of the biggest
challenges that CEOs face?
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- Well, absolutely.
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It's the scaling that's the challenge.
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So a little side note here,
when I was in venture capital,
00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:54.980
we fired 60% of our CEOs
over a five-year period.
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- Goodness.
00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:58.980
- Now, why did we do that?
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They were great CEOs when we
put our money in initially,
00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:07.320
but scaling a company is one
of the biggest challenges.
00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:09.870
And those CEOs could
not scale their company.
00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:11.460
Now, when you peel the onion, Mike,
00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:13.253
you understand that the reason
00:12:13.253 --> 00:12:17.400
is usually because the CEO themselves
00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:20.730
didn't scale their skills
and their knowledge
00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:22.173
and their ability to lead.
00:12:23.160 --> 00:12:26.940
And that's why there's a
lot of replacement of CEOs
00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:29.160
when the desire is to grow.
00:12:29.160 --> 00:12:32.710
The individual, the CEO
themselves, has to grow
00:12:33.690 --> 00:12:37.080
and growing, well, part of my job
00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.030
is to help the CEO identify the areas
00:12:39.030 --> 00:12:42.180
where they need to grow
and help them grow there.
00:12:42.180 --> 00:12:45.120
See, often the CEO is in the role
00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.520
because they have certain skills today
00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:49.140
for the size of the company today,
00:12:49.140 --> 00:12:51.810
for what the company is doing today.
00:12:51.810 --> 00:12:56.160
If you desire to scale in
order to move the company
00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:57.930
through a growth phase,
00:12:57.930 --> 00:13:00.390
that itself requires different skills
00:13:00.390 --> 00:13:02.460
and the CEO doesn't always have them
00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:03.960
or isn't always as skilled
00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:06.453
as they would like to be in those areas.
00:13:07.410 --> 00:13:10.110
So a great coach is gonna help the CEO
00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:14.040
identify how does that individual
scale, how do they grow
00:13:14.040 --> 00:13:16.980
and will give them tools to grow.
00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:19.170
We'll give them the ways of thinking,
00:13:19.170 --> 00:13:20.220
the ways of communicating,
00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:25.220
the ways of operating that will
enable the company to scale.
00:13:25.980 --> 00:13:30.980
And the CEO has to choose
to be on board with that.
00:13:31.715 --> 00:13:35.670
It's a learning process, but
it's uncomfortable, Mike.
00:13:35.670 --> 00:13:39.510
It means that I as the CEO
have to step into an arena
00:13:39.510 --> 00:13:41.040
that I haven't been in before.
00:13:41.040 --> 00:13:42.900
Oh, it's a bigger company.
00:13:42.900 --> 00:13:44.670
Oh, there are a lot more employees.
00:13:44.670 --> 00:13:46.890
Oh, there are a lot more challenges.
00:13:46.890 --> 00:13:48.753
And how do you do that?
00:13:49.640 --> 00:13:51.030
You need someone.
00:13:51.030 --> 00:13:53.130
And this is what I like
to do is you need someone
00:13:53.130 --> 00:13:55.620
who's gonna nudge you
out of your comfort zone.
00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:57.180
Okay, if you stay in your comfort zone,
00:13:57.180 --> 00:13:58.890
you're not gonna scale.
00:13:58.890 --> 00:14:03.210
If you're willing to grow and
try new things and experiment,
00:14:03.210 --> 00:14:06.480
you are gonna find that
you can scale yourself,
00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:08.613
and as a result, scale the company.
00:14:10.050 --> 00:14:12.150
- All right, I'm gonna
be fully candid with you,
00:14:12.150 --> 00:14:14.340
I was not expecting that,
00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:17.310
but that's the perfect
response that you should give.
00:14:17.310 --> 00:14:19.470
I was thinking more pragmatically
00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:22.980
how to increase sales
and production and light.
00:14:22.980 --> 00:14:26.310
And you're saying it's
more fundamental than that.
00:14:26.310 --> 00:14:27.143
- Absolutely.
00:14:27.143 --> 00:14:29.130
Look, if I wanna increase sales,
00:14:29.130 --> 00:14:30.330
well, what does that mean?
00:14:30.330 --> 00:14:32.850
Maybe I need a new head of sales,
00:14:32.850 --> 00:14:34.980
or maybe I need a new approach,
00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:37.740
a different distribution channel,
00:14:37.740 --> 00:14:39.540
or a different way of selling,
00:14:39.540 --> 00:14:40.890
or a different way of positioning,
00:14:40.890 --> 00:14:41.970
or a different way of marketing.
00:14:41.970 --> 00:14:45.210
And I might not be good
at all those things.
00:14:45.210 --> 00:14:47.340
So if I'm gonna scale,
00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:51.330
often what happens is we
discover in the scaling process
00:14:51.330 --> 00:14:55.020
that not only do I need
to hire great people,
00:14:55.020 --> 00:14:58.680
but I need to hire leaders
who can build teams.
00:14:58.680 --> 00:14:59.790
- Yes.
00:14:59.790 --> 00:15:01.320
- So it's not only do
I need to hire a great,
00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:02.820
in your example, a VP of sales,
00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:04.470
I need to hire a great VP of sales
00:15:04.470 --> 00:15:07.653
who knows how to build a great sales team.
00:15:09.570 --> 00:15:11.100
So it's a different way of thinking,
00:15:11.100 --> 00:15:13.720
'cause I'm building
infrastructure with my people
00:15:14.871 --> 00:15:16.290
and that in and of itself
00:15:16.290 --> 00:15:18.090
is often a different thing for the CEO
00:15:18.090 --> 00:15:21.360
to understand I'm now gonna
hire different kinds of people.
00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.680
How do I do that?
00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:24.150
How do I identify them?
00:15:24.150 --> 00:15:26.730
How do I get comfortable, Mike,
00:15:26.730 --> 00:15:29.940
hiring people that are better than I am
00:15:29.940 --> 00:15:31.570
at a lot of different things
00:15:32.610 --> 00:15:34.290
because often you're the CEO,
00:15:34.290 --> 00:15:36.060
because at one point
00:15:36.060 --> 00:15:38.070
you were the smartest person in the room.
00:15:38.070 --> 00:15:39.570
- Yep.
00:15:39.570 --> 00:15:41.910
- And I had to learn as a CEO
00:15:41.910 --> 00:15:44.580
that I'd rather be surrounded
00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:47.091
by the smartest people in the room,
00:15:47.091 --> 00:15:49.503
and that's what helped me be successful.
00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:51.690
- Without a doubt,
00:15:51.690 --> 00:15:53.280
what have you found
00:15:53.280 --> 00:15:57.870
as if you've got CEOs as a
client and they conclude,
00:15:57.870 --> 00:16:01.710
I've got people on this team that I have,
00:16:01.710 --> 00:16:05.610
but gosh, there's one who's
really tough to manage.
00:16:05.610 --> 00:16:08.853
Is that something you see
in your role as a CEO coach?
00:16:10.380 --> 00:16:13.380
- Most CEOs have somewhere
between six and eight people
00:16:13.380 --> 00:16:14.763
reporting to them, Mike.
00:16:15.630 --> 00:16:17.580
I can guarantee that at least one
00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:21.243
and often two of those
people are not a good fit.
00:16:22.560 --> 00:16:25.203
Just based on the patterns I see,
00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:27.900
and in fact, if, as a CEO,
00:16:27.900 --> 00:16:31.415
you force rank those eight
people reporting to you,
00:16:31.415 --> 00:16:32.640
there are gonna be two
people at the bottom
00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:34.743
just by nature of force ranking.
00:16:35.730 --> 00:16:39.660
So it is one of the most
common things I see.
00:16:39.660 --> 00:16:42.840
So the question becomes, as a CEO,
00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:46.023
what am I gonna do about
those bottom two people?
00:16:47.580 --> 00:16:50.700
And there's a very important
question you want to ask first
00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:53.430
and foremost is let's just use the example
00:16:53.430 --> 00:16:55.350
of the bottom person.
00:16:55.350 --> 00:16:58.230
The first question is
is this person a keeper?
00:16:58.230 --> 00:17:01.893
And what I mean by that is
am I gonna let 'em go or not?
00:17:03.150 --> 00:17:04.050
Okay.
00:17:04.050 --> 00:17:06.720
Now very often when they're
at the bottom of that rank,
00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.340
you should let them go.
00:17:08.340 --> 00:17:09.624
Okay.
00:17:09.624 --> 00:17:10.457
We tend to hold on to people
00:17:10.457 --> 00:17:13.366
that are at the bottom
for a variety of reasons
00:17:13.366 --> 00:17:17.010
and we tend to know that
it's not gonna work out,
00:17:17.010 --> 00:17:18.060
but we hang on to them.
00:17:18.060 --> 00:17:20.280
And it's one of the biggest
mistakes the CEOs make.
00:17:20.280 --> 00:17:21.870
It's not making a quick transition
00:17:21.870 --> 00:17:23.640
when something's not working out,
00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:26.700
but let's assume that person is a keeper.
00:17:26.700 --> 00:17:29.433
We've decided they just need help.
00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:33.030
So the question now is if
that person's a keeper,
00:17:33.030 --> 00:17:35.339
we're talking about the one
at the bottom of the list,
00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:38.013
what kind of investment are we gonna make
00:17:38.013 --> 00:17:39.990
in helping that person?
00:17:39.990 --> 00:17:44.990
And the investment is
often the time of the CEO.
00:17:45.004 --> 00:17:48.000
And so now you have a
different kind of relationship
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:48.960
with that person at the bottom.
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:51.330
You as the CEO have
decided they're a keeper
00:17:51.330 --> 00:17:52.920
that they're gonna grow into this role.
00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:56.130
And I, the CEO, am
gonna help them do that.
00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.410
I might bring in some external help.
00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:01.440
That's fine, but I also need
to spend time with them.
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:02.760
I'm investing time in them
00:18:02.760 --> 00:18:04.660
because I've determined it's worth it.
00:18:05.970 --> 00:18:09.750
And it's a conscious decision
to assist that individual
00:18:09.750 --> 00:18:11.988
in becoming better at whatever it is
00:18:11.988 --> 00:18:15.420
they need to be better
at to be more effective
00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:17.280
and perform at a higher level.
00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:19.350
That's one of the key
things here about the CEO
00:18:19.350 --> 00:18:22.350
is the CEO's role is to enable
00:18:22.350 --> 00:18:24.270
and help the leadership team
00:18:24.270 --> 00:18:27.420
to perform at their highest level.
00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:30.543
All about leverage once you
build a leadership team.
00:18:31.969 --> 00:18:33.960
I hope I answered the question.
00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:35.400
- You answered it very well.
00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:36.930
I'd love to go back just for a moment
00:18:36.930 --> 00:18:39.630
to your venture capital days.
00:18:39.630 --> 00:18:40.463
- Sure.
00:18:40.463 --> 00:18:43.320
- I don't know if I got the
statistic committed to memory,
00:18:43.320 --> 00:18:44.610
but I thought you said something
00:18:44.610 --> 00:18:48.420
to the effect of 50 to 60% of the CEOs
00:18:48.420 --> 00:18:50.940
don't make it over a
five-year time period.
00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:52.470
Is that close to what you said?
00:18:52.470 --> 00:18:53.760
- That's right. Yeah.
00:18:53.760 --> 00:18:57.570
- And I've overly
simplified said is in part
00:18:57.570 --> 00:19:00.120
because the organizations
they were leading
00:19:00.120 --> 00:19:01.290
did not perform.
00:19:01.290 --> 00:19:04.740
But I read into it is that
a large contributing factor
00:19:04.740 --> 00:19:08.970
is that you are looking
for growing the company
00:19:08.970 --> 00:19:10.830
and they may not have been able
00:19:10.830 --> 00:19:13.650
or not willing to grow themselves
00:19:13.650 --> 00:19:15.450
or grow their leadership team.
00:19:15.450 --> 00:19:18.150
Am I connecting dots that I shouldn't be?
00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:20.580
- No, you're absolutely right.
00:19:20.580 --> 00:19:25.580
So when you have a startup founder,
00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:32.130
they started up the company
because they have a vision
00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:33.510
and they have certain skills,
00:19:33.510 --> 00:19:35.190
it's often an engineering skill,
00:19:35.190 --> 00:19:36.510
or they understand the market,
00:19:36.510 --> 00:19:37.800
or they're great at the product,
00:19:37.800 --> 00:19:39.120
or they're great at selling,
00:19:39.120 --> 00:19:41.250
but it's usually a single function skill
00:19:41.250 --> 00:19:42.780
they're particularly good at.
00:19:42.780 --> 00:19:44.853
Maybe two functions.
00:19:44.853 --> 00:19:49.320
Then as the company needs to
grow, the next phase of growth,
00:19:49.320 --> 00:19:51.810
now you start to build a team.
00:19:51.810 --> 00:19:54.510
All of a sudden you
require a new skill set,
00:19:54.510 --> 00:19:56.880
which is hiring talented people,
00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.550
which turns out to be the
most important job of the CEO
00:19:59.550 --> 00:20:01.140
by the way.
00:20:01.140 --> 00:20:02.820
What if you're great at engineering,
00:20:02.820 --> 00:20:05.040
but you're not great at
hiring talented people
00:20:05.040 --> 00:20:06.570
in other functions?
00:20:06.570 --> 00:20:09.870
Well, as a CEO, that's
first area of growth.
00:20:09.870 --> 00:20:12.630
You need to grow into hiring a great team.
00:20:12.630 --> 00:20:13.650
How do you do that?
00:20:13.650 --> 00:20:16.470
Well, a coach can help
you understand the process
00:20:16.470 --> 00:20:19.320
you need to go through
to develop those skills.
00:20:19.320 --> 00:20:21.150
Then let's say you become good at that
00:20:21.150 --> 00:20:22.560
and you hire a great team.
00:20:22.560 --> 00:20:26.523
Now you need a new skill,
managing a leadership team.
00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:29.640
I used to write code.
00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:31.170
That's why I started this company.
00:20:31.170 --> 00:20:34.920
Now I have to manage a leadership team.
00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:36.690
I haven't done that before.
00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:39.090
You need a new set of skills.
00:20:39.090 --> 00:20:40.260
Okay.
00:20:40.260 --> 00:20:42.150
Then you move to the next phase of growth.
00:20:42.150 --> 00:20:43.230
Maybe the next phase of growth
00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:45.213
has to do with raising capital.
00:20:46.309 --> 00:20:50.880
Well, now I have to talk to a
whole new set of individuals
00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:51.713
in the world.
00:20:51.713 --> 00:20:52.546
Investors.
00:20:52.546 --> 00:20:54.450
I have to tell a different story.
00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:56.280
I have to convince them to give us money
00:20:56.280 --> 00:20:57.780
and maybe I'm just gonna go to the banks,
00:20:57.780 --> 00:21:00.630
but I still have to treat
them in a different way.
00:21:00.630 --> 00:21:01.950
I have a new skill set.
00:21:01.950 --> 00:21:03.930
I'm not communicating just to customers
00:21:03.930 --> 00:21:06.270
or to the engineering
team or to the sales team.
00:21:06.270 --> 00:21:07.740
I have constituencies,
00:21:07.740 --> 00:21:12.000
I need to communicate with
effectively and sell to,
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.190
well, maybe I didn't have
those skills in the past,
00:21:14.190 --> 00:21:16.860
but I need them now because I'm the CEO
00:21:16.860 --> 00:21:19.140
and no one's gonna look to anybody else.
00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:20.400
If they're gonna give us money,
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:24.090
whether it's debt or equity or capital,
00:21:24.090 --> 00:21:26.370
I need to communicate differently.
00:21:26.370 --> 00:21:27.417
I need a new set of skills.
00:21:27.417 --> 00:21:29.310
And then you're gonna
move on to the next phase,
00:21:29.310 --> 00:21:31.860
which requires another set of skills.
00:21:31.860 --> 00:21:35.820
And that's why you see
high turnover in CEOs.
00:21:35.820 --> 00:21:40.020
And yet the successful
CEOs are learning machines.
00:21:40.020 --> 00:21:41.220
They're hungry.
00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:43.380
And they recognize that
even if I'm not comfortable
00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:44.700
with this next phase of growth,
00:21:44.700 --> 00:21:46.140
I'm gonna figure it out
00:21:46.140 --> 00:21:48.263
and they get the help
they need to do that.
00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:52.050
- Thus far we were talking
about the challenges,
00:21:52.050 --> 00:21:55.080
some of the biggest
challenges that CEOs face,
00:21:55.080 --> 00:21:57.090
we've talked about the scalability
00:21:57.090 --> 00:22:01.740
and you've clarified what
that term scale faster means.
00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:03.990
And we've talked about
some of the challenges
00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:08.910
when you inevitably have one
or more people on that team,
00:22:08.910 --> 00:22:10.710
you have to make a decision.
00:22:10.710 --> 00:22:12.570
What might be some additional challenges
00:22:12.570 --> 00:22:15.843
that you see very often
in your work with CEOs?
00:22:17.250 --> 00:22:19.470
- Well, one that I see very often
00:22:19.470 --> 00:22:23.313
is what I'll call the massive
responsibilities of the CEO.
00:22:25.350 --> 00:22:29.460
The CEO uniquely sees
everything in the company.
00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:32.343
They don't own just one
function, they own everything.
00:22:33.180 --> 00:22:36.030
And they're often very ambitious.
00:22:36.030 --> 00:22:37.470
That's how you got to be a CEO.
00:22:37.470 --> 00:22:40.233
You're very ambitious and
you wanna get a lot done.
00:22:41.700 --> 00:22:46.700
So the dilemma is you may have
17 things on your to-do list,
00:22:46.860 --> 00:22:48.030
things that are important to you
00:22:48.030 --> 00:22:49.580
that you really wanna get done.
00:22:50.520 --> 00:22:52.420
So one of the hardest things I learned
00:22:53.790 --> 00:22:58.260
was when I had 17 things on my to-do list,
00:22:58.260 --> 00:23:02.493
my coach helped me cross
off 14 of those things,
00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:06.139
man, that was painful.
00:23:06.139 --> 00:23:10.230
I didn't wanna cross
off any of those things,
00:23:10.230 --> 00:23:15.230
but I recognize that focus was my friend,
00:23:15.540 --> 00:23:18.770
that if I could focus on the
three most important things
00:23:18.770 --> 00:23:21.390
in a certain timeframe, usually 90 days,
00:23:21.390 --> 00:23:23.010
if I could focus the whole company
00:23:23.010 --> 00:23:24.970
around the three most important things
00:23:24.970 --> 00:23:26.670
over the next 90 days,
00:23:26.670 --> 00:23:29.130
we were gonna get those things done.
00:23:29.130 --> 00:23:30.300
See what tends to happen, Mike,
00:23:30.300 --> 00:23:32.700
is if I have 17 things on my list
00:23:32.700 --> 00:23:34.500
and you have a bunch
of things on your list,
00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:36.990
and three other people have a
bunch of things on their list,
00:23:36.990 --> 00:23:39.003
we're gonna get some stuff done,
00:23:39.900 --> 00:23:42.510
but we're not gonna achieve our goals
00:23:42.510 --> 00:23:44.643
because we're trying to do too much.
00:23:45.600 --> 00:23:46.860
But if as a CEO,
00:23:46.860 --> 00:23:48.720
I can narrow my personal focus
00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:50.310
and the focus of the company
00:23:50.310 --> 00:23:52.920
down to a small number of areas of focus
00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:54.033
for each individual,
00:23:54.900 --> 00:23:59.900
magic can happen because
what we're really doing
00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.390
is we're choosing to
not do a lot of things.
00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:06.149
That's a very difficult
challenge for a CEO.
00:24:06.149 --> 00:24:10.860
Yes, that looks important,
but we're not gonna do it.
00:24:10.860 --> 00:24:12.330
We're gonna choose to not do it.
00:24:12.330 --> 00:24:15.082
We're gonna put it off to the side for now
00:24:15.082 --> 00:24:16.713
and just focus on those things
00:24:16.713 --> 00:24:20.640
that we deem are the most
important things to focus on.
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:23.430
Very, very effective way
of managing a company
00:24:23.430 --> 00:24:24.423
to help it grow.
00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:28.020
- So you just kinda walked
the listeners through,
00:24:28.020 --> 00:24:33.020
if the CEO had 17 things
on his or her list,
00:24:33.270 --> 00:24:37.860
you helped them mark 14
off at least temporarily,
00:24:37.860 --> 00:24:39.360
but you said something was interesting.
00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:43.530
And that is if focus is
gonna be your friend,
00:24:43.530 --> 00:24:46.560
you mentioned that that focus
00:24:46.560 --> 00:24:48.780
has to be of a certain duration.
00:24:48.780 --> 00:24:50.130
It can't go on indefinitely.
00:24:50.130 --> 00:24:51.390
You said 90 days,
00:24:51.390 --> 00:24:52.620
is that a kind of default?
00:24:52.620 --> 00:24:55.710
Do you find that a 90 day time horizon
00:24:55.710 --> 00:24:58.020
to be focusing on specific things?
00:24:58.020 --> 00:25:01.080
Does that work best for CEOs?
00:25:01.080 --> 00:25:01.913
- Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:01.913 --> 00:25:05.970
I find it, well, there's contextually,
00:25:05.970 --> 00:25:07.380
I'm gonna use kind of a funnel approach,
00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:09.810
contextually, it's important
to understand a vision
00:25:09.810 --> 00:25:10.643
for the company
00:25:10.643 --> 00:25:12.570
and that's three to five years out.
00:25:12.570 --> 00:25:15.060
And then strategically, you might say,
00:25:15.060 --> 00:25:16.380
here are certain objectives
00:25:16.380 --> 00:25:18.930
we wanna cover over the next year or so,
00:25:18.930 --> 00:25:20.730
but they're very high level.
00:25:20.730 --> 00:25:22.740
Like grow the company
could be an objective
00:25:22.740 --> 00:25:26.460
or become a great place to
work could be an objective.
00:25:26.460 --> 00:25:30.060
But then what happens is
that needs to translate
00:25:30.060 --> 00:25:32.730
into what do I actually, what do I,
00:25:32.730 --> 00:25:35.400
let's say I'm on the leadership team.
00:25:35.400 --> 00:25:37.110
If I have a particular role,
00:25:37.110 --> 00:25:39.370
what do I need to actually get done
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:41.850
in a short period of time?
00:25:41.850 --> 00:25:44.290
And I've found that 90
days is a magical time
00:25:45.148 --> 00:25:48.030
because you actually
take a couple of weeks
00:25:48.030 --> 00:25:49.780
to figure out what you're gonna do,
00:25:50.734 --> 00:25:53.310
and then you figure out, okay,
00:25:53.310 --> 00:25:55.290
I'm gonna choose something
that's measurable
00:25:55.290 --> 00:25:57.390
to get done in the next 90 days.
00:25:57.390 --> 00:25:59.370
Let's say we're in marketing
00:25:59.370 --> 00:26:02.820
and we need to create X number of leads.
00:26:02.820 --> 00:26:03.960
Okay.
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:06.672
And we've chosen a 90-day period
00:26:06.672 --> 00:26:09.540
to achieve those X number of leads, right?
00:26:09.540 --> 00:26:10.743
Just as an example.
00:26:11.670 --> 00:26:16.670
Well, now, if the CEO is
managing the head of marketing,
00:26:16.800 --> 00:26:19.020
we can look every single week
00:26:19.020 --> 00:26:21.150
at how are we doing against that goal?
00:26:21.150 --> 00:26:24.843
It's pretty easy to measure
the progress against that goal.
00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:26.670
Now, the beauty of that
00:26:26.670 --> 00:26:29.040
is if the CEO is sitting
down with one of his
00:26:29.040 --> 00:26:30.540
or her direct reports every week
00:26:30.540 --> 00:26:33.000
about the key goal they're going after,
00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:34.020
a couple of things happen.
00:26:34.020 --> 00:26:35.220
One is that direct report,
00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:37.230
first of all, understands, you know what?
00:26:37.230 --> 00:26:39.360
The CEO really cared about this goal,
00:26:39.360 --> 00:26:41.400
'cause they're asking me
every single week about it.
00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:42.720
They're serious about this.
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.460
That's one thing that happens.
00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:47.310
The next is we can
figure out very quickly,
00:26:47.310 --> 00:26:48.843
are we on target or not?
00:26:49.710 --> 00:26:50.940
If we're on target, well,
00:26:50.940 --> 00:26:52.110
we have to talk a lot about
00:26:52.110 --> 00:26:53.340
what we need to do with that.
00:26:53.340 --> 00:26:56.307
But most of the time we'll
start to see slippage.
00:26:56.307 --> 00:26:58.230
That's just natural, we'll see slippage.
00:26:58.230 --> 00:27:01.173
And then the question is what
are we gonna do about that?
00:27:02.730 --> 00:27:06.000
And so we can, again, this
is another area of focus.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.790
Oh, one of our key results
00:27:08.790 --> 00:27:11.430
that we're looking for in
the next 90 days looks like
00:27:11.430 --> 00:27:12.600
it's gonna be hard to do.
00:27:12.600 --> 00:27:13.950
We need to do something different
00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:16.380
and we change as a result to that.
00:27:16.380 --> 00:27:18.330
And that's why the 90 days is so valuable
00:27:18.330 --> 00:27:20.250
because there's a lot of work
00:27:20.250 --> 00:27:22.320
to get that key result completed
00:27:22.320 --> 00:27:23.520
by the end of the 90 days.
00:27:23.520 --> 00:27:26.790
And then all of a sudden
we'll be in a strategy session
00:27:26.790 --> 00:27:30.124
asking ourselves, what do we
wanna do over the next 90 days?
00:27:30.124 --> 00:27:34.470
And maybe it's a bigger number
against that one target,
00:27:34.470 --> 00:27:35.850
or maybe it's something else
00:27:35.850 --> 00:27:39.060
that we've learned that
we need to do differently.
00:27:39.060 --> 00:27:43.020
But if we take the beginning
of the 90-day period
00:27:43.020 --> 00:27:45.870
and we do a strategy session
to figure out what's important,
00:27:45.870 --> 00:27:48.480
then we just move into execution mode.
00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:50.910
And that's what the 90 days is all about.
00:27:50.910 --> 00:27:53.070
If we can just execute
and not be distracted
00:27:53.070 --> 00:27:55.950
by everything else against
those most important things,
00:27:55.950 --> 00:27:57.753
we can make magic happen.
00:27:59.970 --> 00:28:01.500
- As you reflect back, Glenn,
00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:03.870
on your experience as a CEO
00:28:03.870 --> 00:28:07.770
or in venture capital
or as the CEO therapist,
00:28:07.770 --> 00:28:11.520
can you share an example
where either you or a client
00:28:11.520 --> 00:28:12.870
or somebody in your organization
00:28:12.870 --> 00:28:15.360
just got stuck, and when that happened,
00:28:15.360 --> 00:28:17.523
what did it take to get unstuck?
00:28:19.980 --> 00:28:20.813
- Sure.
00:28:22.828 --> 00:28:25.180
Getting stuck happens all the time
00:28:27.690 --> 00:28:31.860
and the getting stuck is often a question
00:28:31.860 --> 00:28:36.860
of what is it about, well,
I'll use a special phrase here,
00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:44.000
let's say you're running
the manufacturing floor
00:28:44.850 --> 00:28:46.290
and it's not producing,
00:28:46.290 --> 00:28:48.450
or one of your direct reports is, right,
00:28:48.450 --> 00:28:50.880
you're the CEO, and you're
running the manufacturing floor
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:54.213
and it is just not producing
what we need it to produce.
00:28:55.260 --> 00:28:56.093
And you figure out
00:28:56.093 --> 00:28:58.100
it might have to do
with some of the people
00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:01.650
'cause usually, little secret here,
00:29:01.650 --> 00:29:05.673
it has to do with the
people, you know that one.
00:29:07.410 --> 00:29:10.680
So the question for the CEO
00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:12.570
that they often don't ask themselves,
00:29:12.570 --> 00:29:15.330
and this is where they get stuck is,
00:29:15.330 --> 00:29:17.460
Mike, I'm gonna pretend
you're the CEO, okay.
00:29:17.460 --> 00:29:20.890
I'm gonna say, Mike, what
is it about your behavior
00:29:21.750 --> 00:29:24.480
that's enabling that behavior
00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:26.070
that isn't allowing us
00:29:26.070 --> 00:29:28.413
to produce at the level we wanna produce?
00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:32.070
Because if I were your coach,
00:29:32.070 --> 00:29:33.120
I would ask you that question
00:29:33.120 --> 00:29:35.190
and you wouldn't like that
question at all, right?
00:29:35.190 --> 00:29:36.303
- Just for me now.
00:29:37.297 --> 00:29:38.730
- I'm putting it on you.
00:29:38.730 --> 00:29:39.630
Okay.
00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:42.240
But that's where they get
stuck, CEOs get stuck,
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.280
is, you mean it's my behavior
00:29:44.280 --> 00:29:46.230
that's enabling some other behavior?
00:29:46.230 --> 00:29:48.210
Let's just use a simple example.
00:29:48.210 --> 00:29:50.618
We're running too much overtime.
00:29:50.618 --> 00:29:54.210
And therefore our total costs are rising
00:29:54.210 --> 00:29:56.130
and that's causing our margins to decline,
00:29:56.130 --> 00:29:57.540
and that's our problem.
00:29:57.540 --> 00:29:59.220
So my question to you, Mike, would be,
00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:00.600
if you're running that company,
00:30:00.600 --> 00:30:02.220
what is it about your behavior
00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:04.353
that's enabling that overtime to happen?
00:30:06.450 --> 00:30:08.892
And then you'd have to scratch
your head and ask yourself,
00:30:08.892 --> 00:30:10.290
what are you doing?
00:30:10.290 --> 00:30:14.154
Maybe you're pushing the team
to perform at a higher level
00:30:14.154 --> 00:30:15.750
irrespective of cost
00:30:15.750 --> 00:30:18.600
and you're not measuring them on cost
00:30:18.600 --> 00:30:21.450
or maybe you need to go
into overtime right now
00:30:21.450 --> 00:30:23.760
because there's a
particular strategic account
00:30:23.760 --> 00:30:26.283
that you need to fulfill
and you're okay with that.
00:30:26.283 --> 00:30:28.620
Well then maybe that's okay,
00:30:28.620 --> 00:30:30.990
but you haven't told people that's okay.
00:30:30.990 --> 00:30:33.750
So you wanna go back that
this is where people get stuck
00:30:33.750 --> 00:30:36.240
is what is it that I personally as a CEO
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.830
can do differently to
cause behavior change?
00:30:40.830 --> 00:30:43.230
It's all about behavior change.
00:30:43.230 --> 00:30:45.240
That's what we're looking for as a CEO,
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:47.160
for people to perform at a higher level,
00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:49.440
they individually as your leadership team
00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:51.810
need to change their behavior in some way.
00:30:51.810 --> 00:30:53.910
And this is hard for people to do,
00:30:53.910 --> 00:30:56.610
humans don't ask themselves,
00:30:56.610 --> 00:30:59.220
how can I change my behavior today?
00:30:59.220 --> 00:31:02.100
But the role of the CEO is to identify
00:31:02.100 --> 00:31:04.380
what kind of behavior change is necessary
00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:07.710
and to help those individuals
change their behavior.
00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:09.720
- I don't think I've heard
it described that way,
00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:11.860
but if you want a certain outcome
00:31:12.930 --> 00:31:16.533
and it requires a change in
behavior, if you're the CEO,
00:31:17.730 --> 00:31:21.660
it starts with your willingness
to change your own behavior
00:31:21.660 --> 00:31:24.930
if you wanna see a change
in the person's behavior
00:31:24.930 --> 00:31:27.000
that will result in the outcome.
00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:27.870
- Exactly right.
00:31:27.870 --> 00:31:30.330
So I'll tell you a quick story.
00:31:30.330 --> 00:31:31.860
I heard Cheryl Sandberg speak.
00:31:31.860 --> 00:31:32.760
She's not the CEO,
00:31:32.760 --> 00:31:35.680
but the COO of what was called Facebook
00:31:37.950 --> 00:31:42.723
and her team wasn't doing
what she wanted them to do.
00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:47.253
And so she brought her
team in and she was upset.
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:50.130
She was upset 'cause it was important
00:31:50.130 --> 00:31:52.630
and they weren't doing
what she wanted them to do.
00:31:53.580 --> 00:31:54.930
And she said to them,
00:31:54.930 --> 00:31:59.010
you all are not doing
what I want you to do.
00:31:59.010 --> 00:32:02.703
And then she said this magic
phrase, and that's on me.
00:32:04.290 --> 00:32:07.740
When you hear a leader
get up in front of a group
00:32:07.740 --> 00:32:12.740
and say and that's on me, that's amazing.
00:32:13.770 --> 00:32:15.374
It's rare.
00:32:15.374 --> 00:32:18.090
So many things happen in that moment
00:32:18.090 --> 00:32:20.730
is that the team who was being chastised
00:32:20.730 --> 00:32:24.423
now realizes the leaders
taken the responsibility,
00:32:25.260 --> 00:32:26.550
which the leader needs to do.
00:32:26.550 --> 00:32:28.920
Leader always needs to
take responsibility,
00:32:28.920 --> 00:32:31.380
but it also means that
now everybody's listening,
00:32:31.380 --> 00:32:33.120
no one's defensive anymore
00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:35.310
making excuses for why they're not doing
00:32:35.310 --> 00:32:36.900
what they should be doing.
00:32:36.900 --> 00:32:38.070
They're now listening.
00:32:38.070 --> 00:32:40.419
This leader just took
responsibility for that.
00:32:40.419 --> 00:32:43.470
I love this leader is what
people start to think, right?
00:32:43.470 --> 00:32:46.510
I'm gonna listen to what
comes out of her mouth next
00:32:47.490 --> 00:32:49.893
and she's gonna tell us
what to do differently.
00:32:50.820 --> 00:32:54.317
She created an environment where
people could listen, right?
00:32:56.460 --> 00:32:58.800
So as a leader, as a CEO,
00:32:58.800 --> 00:33:02.520
you need to create an environment
where people will listen.
00:33:02.520 --> 00:33:04.260
'Cause one of the frustrations of any CEO
00:33:04.260 --> 00:33:06.630
is they want things to
happen in a certain way
00:33:06.630 --> 00:33:07.743
and they don't.
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:10.410
When they don't happen in a certain way,
00:33:10.410 --> 00:33:12.330
even though they thought
they were perfectly clear
00:33:12.330 --> 00:33:16.350
in communicating that, it's
extraordinarily frustrating.
00:33:16.350 --> 00:33:18.510
So the CEO needs to come
back and ask themselves,
00:33:18.510 --> 00:33:23.510
what is it about my behavior
that's enabling that behavior?
00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:26.973
Very powerful question.
00:33:27.999 --> 00:33:30.558
- And that's a great illustration.
00:33:30.558 --> 00:33:32.520
Thank you for sharing that.
00:33:32.520 --> 00:33:33.900
You know, Glenn, as you kind of reflect
00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:35.913
on what we've discussed today,
00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:39.210
there may be some things
you would like to add,
00:33:39.210 --> 00:33:41.280
but there may be some
things you wanna make sure
00:33:41.280 --> 00:33:44.130
that our listeners have as takeaways.
00:33:44.130 --> 00:33:45.213
What might that be?
00:33:48.683 --> 00:33:51.873
- The role of the CEO can
be extremely rewarding.
00:33:54.690 --> 00:33:58.360
And the nature of a person who is the CEO
00:33:59.790 --> 00:34:02.760
is that they need to, I
mentioned this earlier,
00:34:02.760 --> 00:34:05.880
they need to acknowledge their wins.
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:07.380
- Yeah.
00:34:07.380 --> 00:34:11.080
- So I've had CEOs who had
their best quarter ever
00:34:12.390 --> 00:34:15.963
step into the planning for
next quarter depressed.
00:34:16.860 --> 00:34:19.290
Depressed because even though
it was the best quarter ever,
00:34:19.290 --> 00:34:21.723
Mike, it wasn't good enough.
00:34:22.590 --> 00:34:24.540
And so they step into the planning
00:34:24.540 --> 00:34:27.210
depressed about what just happened,
00:34:27.210 --> 00:34:29.553
even though they broke company records.
00:34:31.020 --> 00:34:32.850
Now the reason I'm not just saying this
00:34:32.850 --> 00:34:34.050
from a happiness standpoint,
00:34:34.050 --> 00:34:35.850
I'm talking about this from a motivational
00:34:35.850 --> 00:34:37.320
and performance standpoint.
00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:39.300
If you, as a CEO, don't
acknowledge yourself,
00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:41.610
you're probably not
acknowledging your team.
00:34:41.610 --> 00:34:43.080
- Yes.
00:34:43.080 --> 00:34:45.360
- And everybody understands
you're depressed.
00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:46.653
You can't hide that.
00:34:47.490 --> 00:34:50.700
Your mental state is clear to
everybody you're working with.
00:34:50.700 --> 00:34:54.450
And if you step into a quarterly
planning session depressed,
00:34:54.450 --> 00:34:57.180
everybody's gonna be depressed
and worried and concerned.
00:34:57.180 --> 00:34:58.936
Should I be even be
working at this company?
00:34:58.936 --> 00:35:00.600
Are we on the right path?
00:35:00.600 --> 00:35:03.780
But if you step into that
quarterly planning session,
00:35:03.780 --> 00:35:07.500
even if that last quarter
wasn't exactly what you wanted
00:35:07.500 --> 00:35:09.780
by the way you set records,
00:35:09.780 --> 00:35:11.790
you're gonna acknowledge
everybody on your team
00:35:11.790 --> 00:35:12.660
who did a great job.
00:35:12.660 --> 00:35:13.680
You're gonna do that publicly.
00:35:13.680 --> 00:35:15.157
You're gonna acknowledge yourself
00:35:15.157 --> 00:35:17.610
because you deserve to take responsibility
00:35:17.610 --> 00:35:19.132
for making that happen
00:35:19.132 --> 00:35:22.620
and you're gonna step
into the planning session,
00:35:22.620 --> 00:35:24.090
motivate with a team
00:35:24.090 --> 00:35:26.553
who's motivated who wants to follow you.
00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:30.540
So your mental state,
00:35:30.540 --> 00:35:34.320
this is why sometimes my clients
call me the CEO therapist.
00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:38.160
Your mental state enables
you to perform a higher level
00:35:38.160 --> 00:35:41.130
and that means your team will
perform at a higher level
00:35:41.130 --> 00:35:44.370
when you're representing
yourself that way,
00:35:44.370 --> 00:35:49.293
as a motivated, excited,
positive, optimistic leader.
00:35:52.260 --> 00:35:53.820
- Glenn, I've had the opportunity
00:35:53.820 --> 00:35:55.590
to spend some time on your website
00:35:55.590 --> 00:35:58.020
and see the number of valuable resources
00:35:58.020 --> 00:36:00.840
that you make available to
people who visit your website.
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:02.190
But I'm also confident
00:36:02.190 --> 00:36:05.370
that people listening want
to know more about you.
00:36:05.370 --> 00:36:08.670
What's the best way for them
to connect with you online?
00:36:08.670 --> 00:36:11.580
- The easiest way is
simply, like you did, Mike,
00:36:11.580 --> 00:36:15.600
go to my website, which
is my name GlennGow.com.
00:36:15.600 --> 00:36:19.563
That's Glenn with two N's G-O-W.com.
00:36:20.640 --> 00:36:23.970
- Glenn with two N's G-O-W.com.
00:36:23.970 --> 00:36:28.620
We will obviously list
that in the show notes.
00:36:28.620 --> 00:36:30.300
Glenn, I did sit here.
00:36:30.300 --> 00:36:33.900
I took my eyes off you as
I was making good notes,
00:36:33.900 --> 00:36:35.550
literal notes.
00:36:35.550 --> 00:36:38.280
This has been most helpful to me.
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:41.700
I'm confident it's been very
helpful to our listeners.
00:36:41.700 --> 00:36:44.100
Thank you for sharing that expertise.
00:36:44.100 --> 00:36:45.240
- Mike, it's such a pleasure.
00:36:45.240 --> 00:36:47.670
I enjoy spending time with
you and I hope your listeners
00:36:47.670 --> 00:36:50.760
got at least one nugget
out of our conversation.
00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:53.100
- There's no question,
I'm confident they have.
00:36:53.100 --> 00:36:56.640
Let me also say thank you
to the listeners as well
00:36:56.640 --> 00:36:59.400
for giving us time today.
00:36:59.400 --> 00:37:02.400
We upload the latest
episodes to Apple, Google,
00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:04.200
and Spotify every Thursday.
00:37:04.200 --> 00:37:07.020
So if you've enjoyed
this episode with Glenn,
00:37:07.020 --> 00:37:08.583
please subscribe.
00:37:09.450 --> 00:37:11.400
Is your company growing quickly?
00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:12.570
We've talked about that.
00:37:12.570 --> 00:37:14.820
Are you worried that you
don't have the right people
00:37:14.820 --> 00:37:16.050
and processes in place
00:37:16.050 --> 00:37:17.910
to handle the increased workload
00:37:17.910 --> 00:37:19.330
or maybe you're not sure
00:37:19.330 --> 00:37:22.980
that you have the right planning
systems to assure success.
00:37:22.980 --> 00:37:25.140
If yes, let's talk.
00:37:25.140 --> 00:37:28.590
Head to bench-builders.com
to schedule a quick call.
00:37:28.590 --> 00:37:31.590
We'll explore ways to help you
solve those nagging problems
00:37:31.590 --> 00:37:34.560
so you can scale faster and smarter.
00:37:34.560 --> 00:37:36.540
Now we've all learned from Glenn today
00:37:36.540 --> 00:37:39.630
on how that starts with the CEO,
00:37:39.630 --> 00:37:42.870
but I want to thank you for
joining us, the listeners,
00:37:42.870 --> 00:37:44.280
and I hope you have picked up
00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:47.460
on more than one tip from Glenn
00:37:47.460 --> 00:37:51.210
that'll help you get
unstuck and on target.
00:37:51.210 --> 00:37:52.811
Until next time.
00:37:52.811 --> 00:37:55.311
(light music)