I'm a CEO, not a CSBATDTO!
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A few weeks ago one of my clients asked me what “CEO” stands for. I applauded him for asking the question. We all have considerable strengths and assets, and it’s important to ask questions when you don’t know something. It made me do some self reflection too - how often do I, or any of us, use terminology that we think our audiences understand when they actually don’t? That’s a pervasive problem in marketing work. It’s hard to make communication too clear. That’s hardly ever the problem.
The ensuing discussion turned out to be really interesting and fruitful too. It helped me to think even more about what it means to be a CEO - a chief executive officer. As the name implies, it’s a position that’s all about execution. 100% about execution. That’s the entire job - execution.
What does that mean? What does it require to do it well? How do we know when we’re executing and when we’re not? We had a good chat about it, and here’s some of what we covered…
To me, the simplest way to express the job of CEO is to anchor it in purpose. That’s a word that I think about a lot. At various times I’ve called myself a “purpose coach”, which is to say that I help people get clear on their sense of purpose. A purpose is an intended destination, a desired outcome, and perhaps the state of being that comes from pursuing it (this brings up the ancient being/becoming discussion that quickly took shape among the first philosophers and still echoes within our collective intellect today).
So, a CEO is someone whose job it is to keep the organizational purpose in mind and sight, and to guide all other components of the organization in that direction without exception, because if it’s part of the organization it should be oriented toward that purpose, otherwise it’s an aerodynamic drag. When you’re doing that, you’re executing. If you’re not, you’re just filling the time.
Now, it’s a big job. It doesn’t just happen. It’s demanding. It requires ongoing commitment to refining skills and traits that include: envisioning, persistence, communication, motivation (self and others), strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, persuasion, team-building, data analysis, damage control, flexibility, charisma, and more. It requires constantly embodying the mission that comes from holding that purpose in mind and emanating the influence necessary to bring out the best in everyone who is helping to move in that direction. It also requires enough humility to see the considerable strengths in others and consider how they might be most constructive to the mission.
That’s being CEO. That and only that.
If you’re not doing that, you’re likely keeping busy with other things, but that’s not being a CEO. Being CEO will probably keep you busy, but it’s not about keeping busy. Busyness is simply a byproduct of doing what needs to be done, and many weeks that fills many hours. But some weeks it doesn’t.
I told him, if you’re keeping busy just to keep busy, you’re not a CEO, you’re a “Chief Stay Busy All The Damn Time Officer”, or a CSBATDTO. Did you ever notice that you don’t find that title in too many C-suites? That’s because companies don’t need to waste their resources on people like that. But they do need to invest in a good CEO, and you need to invest in yourself as CEO if you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner.
Remember, you’re not a CSBATDTO, you’re a CEO. It’s important to know the difference, and remember exactly what a CEO does, which is ultimately to hold a sense of purpose for the organization and infuse all other decisions made by the team with the vision that flows from that through the skills and traits listed a few paragraphs back.
BTW, even if you don’t feel like a CEO, even if you don’t have that title and you report to someone else (although even CEOs sometimes report to a board, and ultimately the customers), you can still think more like a CEO within your domain. Always ask the purpose of your role within the greater purpose of the organization and think strategically about how you can do the job more efficiently to free you up to work even more purposefully. This will only ever make your life, and the life of your organization, better. We can all work on being less CSBATDTO and more CEO.