How to Become a Great CEO

Becoming a CEO doesn’t mean your learning stops. The key to becoming a great CEO is understanding that there is always something to learn whether it is how to effectively manage your team or improve business processes for better productivity. You need to constantly adapt to the challenges that come your way. We have some tips that can help you do that and be great.

Know what to ask

A common challenge that organizations face is not getting to the root of their problem. They will continue to work around it until they can no longer do so. A great CEO knows to ask their team questions that will help get to the bottom of their problem. They want to seek the problem and rectify it rather than work around it. This not only helps with productivity but ensures that the business continues to function smoothly without any downtime.

Value the stakeholders

Customers will always be the major driving force behind businesses. Which is why all businesses should consider their customers as kings and queens. A great CEO never truly loses sight of valuing the company's stakeholders. They are constantly working with their team for innovative ways to do this with promotions or providing exceptional services. 

At the same time, it doesn’t just stop at customers, your team is also a stakeholder so you need to constantly value them. There are numerous ways you can do this be it through awards and incentives or just appreciating them in meetings. Valuing all your stakeholder is key to great leadership especially during the Corona crisis.

You focus on the major rather than the minor

As the CEO you need to know what aspects of the business you need to invest your time in. After all, time is limited and you don’t want to end up micro-managing your team or getting into the nitty-gritty of processes, you have other people that can do that. You need to learn to focus on major aspects that improve the way your organization works. Work with the team to diagnose processes and figure out how to be more productive, for example. 

Know your team well enough to put the right people in the right place

 

Managing your team will take up a lot of your time as a CEO. You will need to create a balance between being compassionate and knowing what is best for the business. By being compassionate, we mean catering to your employees but at the same time, you make sure that the right individuals are slotted in positions that they are best suited for. This starts with the managers you have in place. It is likely that you will not always be able to directly deal with lower-level employees. This is why it is important you have effective managers in place to ensure their well-being and productivity at all times. 

Becoming a great CEO is a process. The wonderful thing about it is, you can groom yourself into one even if you feel you aren’t cut out for it. Our tips should serve as a starting point for anyone that is interested in becoming a great CEO.