Debunking the 3 Common Myths of Being a CEO
“I want to be a CEO or entrepreneur because I don’t want to have a boss anymore, but I don’t have the right idea to go out on my own yet.”
A friend of a friend from back home in New Zealand said that to me this week, and I’ve heard different variations of the same idea over the last few years. Even as simple as: “what is like being a CEO?”
☝️ So let’s unpack a few myths and some of my thoughts around that thought.
Before I do… let me open with the same thought that I’ll close with: Being a CEO is awesome. Literally, it’s the best job I’ve ever had. And we need more CEOs and entrepreneurs. BUT it’s important to go in with your eyes wide open.
Here are the top 3 myths I want to debunk about being a CEO.
#1 I want to be a {insert CEO/Founder/Entrepreneur} because I don't want to have a boss.
Sorry to break it to you. But this is a terrible reason to want to be a CEO.
At last count, I have 5 different bosses:
The board.
Our key investors.
All of our shareholders.
Our staff.
Our customers
See, many organizations function and think like your typical org chart:
But healthy organizations think more like what’s called the “upside down org chart”:
Ultimately, I’m at the bottom and here to serve everyone “above me” on the org chart.
And I can feel your eyes rolling: “well sure Matt, but no one can tell you what to do.”
And to be fair, that’s mostly true.
But you trade that for: you always have to tell YOURSELF what to do and hold yourself accountable to it. And that can be a lot less fun sometimes when the lazy part of your brain always wants to say “no thanks.” (hypothetically 😜)
#2 I want to be a {CEO/Founder/Entrepreneur} but I’m waiting for the right idea.
Sorry to break it to ya, but that’s not the problem.
I truly believe that the idea doesn’t make the entrepreneur. It’s all about the execution of the idea.
There are so many examples of uber-successful companies that weren’t unique ideas (see what I did there?)
But even think about revolutionary products like the iPod. That wasn’t a revolutionary idea (remember the Zune?) but it was a revolutionary product. Why?
Because Apple had the best execution of the idea.
Leadr is frankly another example of that. The idea itself isn’t that groundbreaking. That’s why when you share it with most people, they see things like: “What you’ve built is the exact list of things I wished I had when I first stepped into management.” By the way, that’s a direct quote from a call I had today.
So what makes Leadr successful?
It’s our ability to execute. To pivot and adjust. To learn and grow and get better every day.
So don’t wait for your one big great idea. Just get after it.
#3 I want to be a {insert one of the above} so I can delegate all the hard stuff.
And sorry to break it to you a final time. That also ain’t true…
When I first became a CEO someone handed me a book called ‘The Guide to Being a Startup CEO’. Pretty good book recommendation huh? 😆
In the book, it laid out something called: The 6 Things You Can’t Delegate as CEO.
They were:
Building the team
Keeper of the vision
Chief Strategist
Managing the investors
Critical relationships (PR: If you’re a startup the only person I want to hear from is the CEO)
Company Culture
And what I learned reading through it is that in healthy cultures, stuff rolls uphill, not downhill.
In other words, by the time a problem lands on your desk, it’s going to be the gnarliest one to solve. Not the easiest one.
So if you think you can escape the difficult stuff and play golf, well, that’s not my experience. Although we all know those CEOs do exist out there!
I hope I didn’t burst your bubble, but as a CEO:
You still have a boss
It’s not about the best idea
And you can’t run away from the hard stuff
BUT being a CEO is awesome. Literally, the best job I’ve ever had.
Thanks for reading,
MT