Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:10.189 Welcome to the CEO Series on B Tob Growth. This podcast is for entrepreneurs 2 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:15.150 who are navigating the transition from founder to CEO, and it's all about what 3 00:00:15.189 --> 00:00:19.670 it's like being a CEO. I'm John Bella's are and I'll be your host 4 00:00:19.750 --> 00:00:23.500 for the series. About twenty years ago, I started my first company and 5 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:28.500 became a CEO. Now I like to say it's who I am. This 6 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:32.140 may sound Cliche, but being CEO is a journey, not a destination. 7 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:36.490 For everyone, it starts with a first time experience and, if you're lucky, 8 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:40.409 it becomes a lifelong ride on your way to mastery. I've had the 9 00:00:40.490 --> 00:00:44.850 opportunity to live in much of this journey over the past twenty years. I 10 00:00:44.969 --> 00:00:48.810 have been the CEO of three different ventures, some very successful, some not. 11 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:52.520 Two years ago, I decided to write down my learnings. I call 12 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:56.600 it the CEO playbook. It's the list of things I wish I knew before 13 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.280 I became CEO. In fact, it's a window into what it's like being 14 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.629 a CEO, and it's two things I wish I never forget as I continue 15 00:01:03.790 --> 00:01:08.189 my journey to mastery. At first it was for me and then I thought 16 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:14.030 why not share it with other CEOS. That's when my blog, CEO playbook 17 00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:18.659 was born. In fact, it's become more of an online publication specifically for 18 00:01:18.780 --> 00:01:23.219 founders and CEO's making that transformation every day. In this podcast series I share 19 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:27.939 my personal stories and some practical advice that you can put into practice in mediately. 20 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:33.450 I also invite my CEO friends to share their stories and pages from their 21 00:01:33.530 --> 00:01:37.810 playbooks. I hope you can find something useful here for your journey. Thank 22 00:01:37.849 --> 00:01:42.129 you. Welcome to the show. For today's episode, I want to talk 23 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:48.480 about the first time. I'm not talking about you know what kind of first 24 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.000 time. I'm talking about the first time as CEO. For those of you 25 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:57.879 who have been CEO for several times, maybe you can think back to what 26 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:01.989 it was like that first time. I'm going to share my experience as a 27 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:07.509 first time CEO. I spent a lot of time with founders as an angel 28 00:02:07.590 --> 00:02:13.110 investor and investor these days, so I see lots of first time CEOS and 29 00:02:13.189 --> 00:02:17.939 I'm always amazed by how similar their experiences as first time CEOS was to mine. 30 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:22.500 So I'm going to talk about my first time and then what I'd like 31 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:27.300 to do is share with you some real sage advice for my own experience and 32 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:30.250 from other CEO friends over the years. That would be very helpful to you 33 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:36.210 as a first time CEO. So let's set the context. So in my 34 00:02:36.370 --> 00:02:38.689 case, my first time was in one thousand nine hundred and ninety seven. 35 00:02:39.610 --> 00:02:43.969 For those of you who are just getting into the tech business, one thousand 36 00:02:44.009 --> 00:02:49.800 nine hundred and ninety seven there was barely any kind of social media, facebook, 37 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:53.599 any one of these large networks. The Internet was really just taking off. 38 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:02.229 This whole feel was known as thecom era. Companies were forming to support 39 00:03:02.310 --> 00:03:07.949 technology, to get into the business, and myself and for the CO founders 40 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:15.300 got together to form our first venture. None of us had done startups before, 41 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:17.860 so this was really the first time. Four of the five were friends 42 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:23.099 from college. So some of you first timers might resonate with with that concept 43 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:27.289 of really forming a company with people that you're close to and can trust. 44 00:03:27.770 --> 00:03:31.849 And some of the folks we met later in our professional lives. And as 45 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:36.650 a team. We got together every Saturday until we you know, talked about 46 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:40.840 different ideas, until we found an idea that we can start and I moved 47 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:44.360 from the West Coast. I was in the West Coast at the time and 48 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:46.159 my other four co founders were in Boston. So I moved from the West 49 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:52.719 Coast to Boston. I found myself installed on the floor of one of my 50 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:55.550 co founders home. He was just he just got married, so they were 51 00:03:55.590 --> 00:04:00.909 newly weds and we just started coding and getting into the into the business of 52 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:04.509 creating our new company in the product and at some point we finished our business 53 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:11.740 plan and we were starting to form the company and it was time to give 54 00:04:11.819 --> 00:04:14.900 titles to everyone. So some of you might also be resonating with this. 55 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:17.699 Right someone had to be in charge of the product, someone had to be 56 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:25.009 in charge of different aspects of the business that were technology related and ultimately someone 57 00:04:25.050 --> 00:04:28.769 had to be CEO. And so the question was, how do we decide 58 00:04:29.089 --> 00:04:32.569 five co founders? And essentially we decided to bring it to we vote, 59 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:38.009 in my case, for votes for John said, one of my cofounders, 60 00:04:38.050 --> 00:04:41.519 as we were sort of doing the voting, and I was happy to win 61 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:45.279 the election. I won four out of the five votes to get named. 62 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.040 One of my other cofounders was also in the running and while I was happy 63 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.509 to have been named, I really had no idea what it meant to be 64 00:04:54.670 --> 00:05:00.149 CEO, I really had to sort of begin thinking about what that meant. 65 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:02.509 But it was okay, it didn't really matter, because now we had names 66 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:05.709 on everyone and we can write the BIOS and put it in the business plan 67 00:05:05.750 --> 00:05:11.620 and really sort of work on that. But it wasn't until the first outside 68 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:15.540 capital came into the business, and that's right when, I believe it was 69 00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:20.689 one of our friends and family investors sent us a pretty sizeable check to our 70 00:05:20.730 --> 00:05:26.290 Boston office, and that's when it sort of dawned on me. Now they 71 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:30.889 were expecting us to turn that money into something valuable, and so being CEO 72 00:05:31.089 --> 00:05:35.160 really started to mean something. And it usually happens just like that. When 73 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:40.839 the first fresh amount of outside capital comes in, it's no longer your money 74 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:45.439 or blood and sweat and it's someone else's money. Being CEO really kicks in 75 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.920 and that's when you start asking yourself, Oh, what is my job? 76 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.910 What do the CEO supposed to be? What am my duties? And the 77 00:05:51.990 --> 00:05:56.870 next day, in my case, I really started going out and searching for 78 00:05:56.949 --> 00:06:00.430 the answers to those questions. I did something again in one thousand nine hundred 79 00:06:00.430 --> 00:06:05.540 and ninety seven. You couldn't just go to Linkedin or these angel groups or 80 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:12.019 different, you know, social platforms that help you to find coaches and people 81 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:15.899 who can give you advice. What I did is I actually went the old 82 00:06:15.939 --> 00:06:21.290 school way and pulled out the Cornell Alumni directory. So I am a alum 83 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:26.009 of Quinel University. I searched the directory. If Cap, it's got to 84 00:06:26.050 --> 00:06:30.970 be some entrepreneurs or heads of tech companies in Boston that I can go talk 85 00:06:30.089 --> 00:06:34.959 to and I called each one of them and, honestly, I begged each 86 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.879 of them to give me thirty minutes of their time. A few of them 87 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:43.680 agreed and they gracially shared some of the nuggets of advice that I was desperately 88 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:46.230 looking for. What's it like to raise venture capital? What is venture capital? 89 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:48.430 How does it work? What are some of the things I should be 90 00:06:48.509 --> 00:06:53.829 thinking about as a CEO when I pull this thing all together? I was 91 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:58.790 now, happily, you know, engaged with some of these co founders and 92 00:06:59.029 --> 00:07:02.860 CEOS. Some of these folks were serial CEOS. There was one gentleman that 93 00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:08.420 I literally had to chase down. I call them every week, persistently until 94 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:11.699 I reached him. In fact, I had called the Cornell Career Center and 95 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:16.170 asked them who in Boston I should talk to and they kept focusing on this 96 00:07:16.290 --> 00:07:20.170 one person and so I decided to really hunt hunt them down. He called 97 00:07:20.209 --> 00:07:24.370 me back. He was driving and he said, John, I'm sorry it's 98 00:07:24.410 --> 00:07:27.889 been so long to, you know, get a hold of you, but 99 00:07:28.290 --> 00:07:30.800 here I am. What questions do you have? And you really walked me 100 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:33.160 through, you know, a lot of these different concepts and things that I 101 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:38.439 should think about as a CEO. So I'll talk about some of the advice 102 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.959 that he gave me in a minute. So that was my first time. 103 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.350 I knew nothing and what I did is I went out and spoke to as 104 00:07:45.430 --> 00:07:49.230 many people as possible to better understand what it's like to be CEO. What 105 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:54.269 is a CEO? Being a CEO all about? And now what I want 106 00:07:54.269 --> 00:07:58.740 to do a shift to advice. Seven things that I have found in my 107 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:03.660 experience every first timer should know. These are the things I wish I knew 108 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:07.100 when I was a first timer, and some of these things are things that 109 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:09.819 I learned when I went out and started talking to some of the folks out 110 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:13.970 there and they gave me advice that has stayed with me for the last twenty 111 00:08:15.009 --> 00:08:18.970 plus years. So the first one is take charge. So after I we 112 00:08:20.050 --> 00:08:22.610 sold our first venture, which was very successful, very exciting. I was 113 00:08:22.850 --> 00:08:28.199 part of a management team at the parent company, the company that bought our 114 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.240 adventure, and they held these big sales meetings every year. And as you 115 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.440 get into the enterprise space, you'll know the concept of a President's Club. 116 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.789 This is where the top sales people get to go to Hawaii or the Bahamas 117 00:08:41.830 --> 00:08:48.789 or some important area of the world to celebrate the fact that they've closed millions 118 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:52.230 of dollars a business. And as you build your companies and become CEO, 119 00:08:52.309 --> 00:08:56.700 you're going to have to run similar programs where you reward the success of the 120 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:01.940 teams, the product teams, to the president's etc. Where one year they 121 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:05.940 invited a keynote speaker, which was very common at the time, and one 122 00:09:05.980 --> 00:09:11.090 of the keynote speakers that they invited was Norman Schwartzkoff. Again, I'm dating 123 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:18.769 myself, but Norman Schwartzkoff was the general who is best known for leading the 124 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:24.639 US into the Iraq war, also known as Desert Storm. I actually watched 125 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:28.960 Desert Storm on TV ON CNN at university. Believe it or not, when 126 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:33.480 CNN started showing wars on TV. Seven kind of funny to say that right 127 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:35.799 now, but that's what was happening at the time. Anyway. After they 128 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:39.669 ended a war, the general went on to speaking circuit and one of his 129 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:45.909 stops was this President Club at the the new parent company. BEA was the 130 00:09:45.909 --> 00:09:48.389 name of the company. The firm that bought my first company in my first 131 00:09:48.429 --> 00:09:54.460 company was called Theory Center. In his talk what he shared was a set 132 00:09:54.500 --> 00:09:58.700 of leadership principles. In fact he's written a book on it. General Colin 133 00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:01.899 Powell has done something similar. But one of the things that he said in 134 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:07.809 his talk really sticks in my mind, almost sort of like peanut butter on 135 00:10:07.929 --> 00:10:13.570 toast. He said when in charge, take charge. When in charge, 136 00:10:13.929 --> 00:10:18.809 take charge. So that's the first piece of advice. Take charge. Many 137 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:24.799 new CEOS or first time CEOS or really shy about starting to make the decisions, 138 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:31.360 going from a sort of team of founders where it's a consensus based decision 139 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:37.789 to really stepping into the leadership role and starting to make decisions like an executive 140 00:10:37.830 --> 00:10:41.269 would, because, believe me, you're going to be making lots of decisions. 141 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:46.389 And many first time CEOS really avoid that decision making process like a plague. 142 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:48.230 You know, some are going to weigh their options and definitely or their 143 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:52.860 hold their breath for consensus. I think the message here is take charge. 144 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:58.019 You are now the CEO and it's up to you to make decisions and to 145 00:10:58.139 --> 00:11:01.580 make them quickly to keep your business moving. And some instances you might make 146 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:05.289 them quickly, you might make them slowly, but, more importantly, you 147 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:11.090 will be the one responsible for making sure that important decisions that the business in 148 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:16.090 the management team needs to make our made. Their different decision making styles and 149 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:20.399 we'll probably talk about some of that in the series, but for now I 150 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:24.480 think the most important thing is when you become CEO, remember you need to 151 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:30.000 take charge and make decisions. Look, you're going to make mistakes, and 152 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:35.870 mistakes are unavoidable. In fact, I've made many mistakes in my twenty plus 153 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:39.070 career. Is CEO. I'm making mistakes right now as CEO as I'm producing 154 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:43.830 this podcast. Don't let the fear of making them prevent you from making any 155 00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:46.940 progress in your business. Okay, let's go to the second piece of advice. 156 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:50.899 The second piece of advice actually came from that gentleman that I was chasing 157 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:56.139 all this time. He gave me a whole host of things to think about. 158 00:11:56.539 --> 00:12:00.100 In the business we were building at the time, we were building this 159 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:05.250 whole series of component software that you can use to build software applications very quickly 160 00:12:05.450 --> 00:12:11.090 in a combination way, or these days will call them sort of API based. 161 00:12:11.210 --> 00:12:13.809 Is Funny to talk about this, but at the time none of this 162 00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:16.639 technology was really available and we were sort of really breaking the mold at the 163 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:22.519 time. But going back to to this person, what he said was, 164 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:28.720 look, I've just shared a lot of things with you right now and if 165 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:33.549 you leave this room and forget everything I told you, please remember one thing 166 00:12:33.590 --> 00:12:37.269 right in other words, if you forget everything I said to you, remember 167 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:43.870 this. To succeed you must be laser focus, and I'm telling you right 168 00:12:43.909 --> 00:12:48.340 now I have been a CEO and in a professional role for twenty plus years. 169 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:52.019 That's the number one piece of advice I give every new CEO that I 170 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:58.610 meet and that is to be laser focused. Focus is everything. It's completely 171 00:12:58.690 --> 00:13:01.529 true. I'm telling you. To succeed you must be laser focus, and 172 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:07.529 unwavering focus is a skill that you have to master as a CEO. You 173 00:13:07.009 --> 00:13:11.649 have to learn how to say no more than you say yes. In fact, 174 00:13:11.649 --> 00:13:13.679 Steve Jobs was a master at it. One of the big things he 175 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:22.080 focused on is teaching his team to do less, and do that less extremely 176 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.320 well. We should have less products, not lots of products, less products, 177 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:31.870 amazingly beautiful products that everyone wants. In fact, there's a famous story 178 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:35.789 about when he came back to Apple. He asked to team what do they 179 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:39.750 think is wrong with the company, and people talked about all sorts of different 180 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:43.500 reasons and basically what he summed it up was, I tell you what's wrong 181 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:46.860 with the company, product stock. There's too many of them and we need 182 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:52.179 to really focus our efforts to be more successful. So let's just talk about 183 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:56.450 how you you do that. How do you get focus right? The market, 184 00:13:56.570 --> 00:14:00.690 your employees, your investors, even people you love are going to pull 185 00:14:00.769 --> 00:14:05.049 you in different directions and you're going to experience this a CEO. To be 186 00:14:05.210 --> 00:14:09.759 focused comes from being clear about your company's wise one of the key questions around 187 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.960 why, for example, is why do you exist? What is your core 188 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:20.360 purpose for being? Without it, it's really hard to figure out where you 189 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.350 should be in what should be for laser focus as a company. Are you 190 00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:28.470 an application solutions company? Are you in API company? Are you a B 191 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:33.789 Toc Services Company? Are You ASSASS company? Are Your Platform Company? Why 192 00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:37.580 do you exist? which change in the world to make your company become existent 193 00:14:37.940 --> 00:14:41.899 and, ultimately, what is it that you're doing that makes you unique? 194 00:14:43.419 --> 00:14:46.019 As a really good book that I recommend every first time or read, and 195 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:50.700 it's called the advantage by Lynchioni, he explains that one of the keys to 196 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:54.690 the success of any company is the achievement of clarity. I call it. 197 00:14:54.929 --> 00:15:01.169 Getting clear is asking essentially the wise. There's a series of those why questions. 198 00:15:01.490 --> 00:15:05.330 In fact he has about five of them that he takes you through, 199 00:15:05.370 --> 00:15:09.759 six, I believe, and essentially ask you key questions that you really need 200 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.240 to understand, that that are going to help you through your business. So 201 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.480 that's extremely important. It's going to take practice, but as soon as you 202 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:22.669 get the helm, get clear, get focus and then focus that energy around 203 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:26.230 being laser focus, around what you're clear about. Okay, what's the next 204 00:15:26.309 --> 00:15:31.950 what's the next piece of advice? Read? Read, read now. As 205 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:35.100 a first time CEO, I have to be honest with you. I grew 206 00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:41.980 up watching lots of TV. I grew up reading newspapers and magazines and even 207 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:46.659 at university, while I read lots of tech books. I really wasn't a 208 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:52.529 big reader. I would read nonfiction mostly, some fiction and university, but 209 00:15:52.649 --> 00:15:58.409 over time I developed a penchant for reading and really taking in as much information 210 00:15:58.970 --> 00:16:03.320 and examples of companies and leadership that I had built over over the years. 211 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.639 And I can tell you that one of the keys to success as a CEO 212 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:12.720 is to make time for reading. Read everything spending. Try to you you 213 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:17.679 want to try to set aside anywhere from one to two hours per day to 214 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.509 read. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, Bill Gage, Sherrow Sandberg, Jeff 215 00:16:21.549 --> 00:16:25.269 Piso's, all of them do it. You should do it essentially, make 216 00:16:25.350 --> 00:16:27.710 it a habit, put it in your calendar, create some sort of tickler 217 00:16:27.830 --> 00:16:33.580 or whatever tool helps you get things done, but read as much as possible. 218 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:37.379 Okay, just some examples of reads. A books you can read about, 219 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:41.779 and I'll put this in the show notes for you, but you should 220 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:45.019 read, for example, that that advantage book I just talked about. You 221 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:48.809 should read what it's like to run a high grow tech company. The most 222 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:52.490 common choices these days include the heart thing about heart things, by her it's 223 00:16:53.049 --> 00:16:57.610 living at the speed of growth, by the Catlin group folks as a great, 224 00:16:57.690 --> 00:17:02.080 great book called Culture Code that helps you sort of think about what makes 225 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.599 a good culture. If you're in the SASS business, you should really read 226 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:10.039 the book subscribe. You should read a books about pain, the pain of 227 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.160 being a CEO, because, believe me, you're going to experience lots of 228 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:17.150 pain. And an old favorite of mine is how to castrate a bull. 229 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:21.190 There's so much pain in that book I'm telling you, you will be overwhelmed 230 00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:26.349 by it. The other is making cognitive bias, marketing and cognitive bias technology, 231 00:17:26.390 --> 00:17:30.779 evolution, human behavior and storytelling. There's lots of great ones out there 232 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:37.059 and on the blog you can on my blog ceeo playbook co you can find 233 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:41.180 lots of examples of that. The fourth idea is equate the pain of making 234 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:45.450 mistakes with learning. I have made many mistakes, as I said earlier. 235 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:52.410 I've made bad hires, I've lost deals due to bad decisions. I've made 236 00:17:52.450 --> 00:17:56.650 bad deals due to not thinking through sort of the second order consequences of the 237 00:17:56.930 --> 00:18:02.920 deal structure. I've underestimated competitors, I've failed to show compassion towards employees. 238 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.000 I fought with my cofounders. I've had miss judgments at them. That about 239 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:10.799 the market we were in. I've overestimated where we should have scaled back. 240 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:14.069 You get the point. I've made a lot of mistakes, but many of 241 00:18:14.150 --> 00:18:18.309 these failures were like a world ending moment in my life as CEO. But 242 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:23.430 at the same time, each one of them has taught me something incredibly valuable. 243 00:18:23.990 --> 00:18:27.900 So I'm going to tell you something counterintuitive here. You want to make 244 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:32.500 mistakes. In fact, you're going to make the mistakes. What I want 245 00:18:32.539 --> 00:18:37.619 to impress upon you is how important embracing those mistakes as really a source of 246 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:45.210 learning and growth as a CEO. In fact, the best CEO's have a 247 00:18:45.329 --> 00:18:48.170 long list of those mistakes, you know, lining their pathways to success. 248 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:52.529 So you, I really want you to embrace yours, write them down and 249 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:56.640 take time to reflect on them, and we talk a lot about that on 250 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.559 our blog, about how to do that, and there's a whole series of 251 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:03.519 recipes that are offer for that and probably in this series we're going to be 252 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.920 touching on some of that. Another one is live with your customers, I 253 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.470 mean really live with them. I once had a customer that took his shoes 254 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:17.390 off during a meeting and he rubbed fungus cream in between his toes. I'm 255 00:19:17.390 --> 00:19:21.390 not joking. I must say high was shocked, but it did not determine 256 00:19:21.430 --> 00:19:23.940 me from spending time with him once a quarter, if not more. Why? 257 00:19:25.259 --> 00:19:30.140 Because most customers are the answer to everything. In fact, all of 258 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:33.579 your customers really tell you a lot about your business. The fact that you 259 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:37.339 have customers all at all shows that your product has a fit within the market 260 00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:41.529 place. So you want to get close to them so you can know how 261 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:44.210 to improve your service. If you want to know how to do that, 262 00:19:44.450 --> 00:19:47.930 you ask your customers. If you're wondering how to get around or beat your 263 00:19:47.970 --> 00:19:52.920 competitors, or understand what your competitor has that you don't, ask your customer. 264 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:56.839 If your marketing campaign is not hitting the mark, ask your customer. 265 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:02.200 These are things that are very easy to answer if you spend time with the 266 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.759 people that pay your bills. Look, anything you need to know to help 267 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.829 drive your business forward can be found by walking the halls of your customers. 268 00:20:07.869 --> 00:20:14.069 In fact, sometimes you can find new business and new ideas by walking those 269 00:20:14.150 --> 00:20:17.589 halls. I call it sort of having the past to get to get into 270 00:20:17.589 --> 00:20:22.180 the door so that you can you can solve for that and this is true 271 00:20:22.220 --> 00:20:25.299 for any type of business. So be to be business, to be to 272 00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:29.700 see business, to beat a business and beat anything business customers are gold. 273 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:33.940 So, as CEO, I recommend you spend at least one day a week 274 00:20:33.339 --> 00:20:37.809 talking to your customers. Next piece of advice. Find a role model. 275 00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:44.930 My first exposure to a chief executive officer was when I started my career as 276 00:20:44.970 --> 00:20:48.809 an engineer at Intel. I talk a lot about that in the content on 277 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:52.880 our on our blog. In fact, I was in a cafeteria in Hillsboro, 278 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:57.559 Oregon. If folks out there are from Oregon, I hope you can 279 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:03.039 resonate with what I'm talking about. Andy Grove was the CEO of intail at 280 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:07.349 the time and he was delivering this quarterly town hall meeting. I don't know 281 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:11.230 why, but this is when I knew I really wanted to be CEO, 282 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:15.390 and not just any CEO, I actually wanted to be him, Andy Grove. 283 00:21:15.950 --> 00:21:19.740 I have read everything about Andy Grove. I watched him intently as he 284 00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:26.660 helped to grow Intel into probably one of the most well run companies ever and 285 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:30.220 one of the top players in their field for very long time, probably for 286 00:21:30.660 --> 00:21:34.009 the better part of a few decades, and in that our meeting I saw 287 00:21:34.009 --> 00:21:40.369 a leader who was extremely focused, clear gritty. He was compassionate and driven 288 00:21:40.450 --> 00:21:42.650 to win. That was in one thousand nine hundred and ninety five, and 289 00:21:42.890 --> 00:21:48.319 he grow row went on again to lead Intel and the PC industries through some 290 00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:52.640 of the greatest challenges and transformations. In fact, he is known as the 291 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:57.240 godfather of Silicon Valley and I go far ast to say that he is my 292 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:00.549 role model. WHO's your role model? I think you have to think about 293 00:22:02.029 --> 00:22:06.029 who that role model is and if you don't have one, I encourage you 294 00:22:06.069 --> 00:22:08.869 to find one. Having a role model really really helps you to create an 295 00:22:08.869 --> 00:22:14.190 architecture, blueprint for the type of CEO you're going to be. Choose one. 296 00:22:14.589 --> 00:22:18.099 Sometimes you might want to choose one that's similar to you or in your 297 00:22:18.140 --> 00:22:23.299 field, or maybe pick someone that represents an aspiration or goal that you have 298 00:22:23.500 --> 00:22:27.539 for yourself, and he was mine. I really loved his grit, his 299 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:33.490 management style, his approach to adversity, his ability to learn, his resilience. 300 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:37.849 In fact, this guy is incredibly resilient and if you read his biography 301 00:22:38.289 --> 00:22:42.089 you'll learn that he, you know, went through lots of challenges in his 302 00:22:42.210 --> 00:22:48.200 life, both personal and businesswise. That really drove his success. To bringing 303 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.640 it back to that, make mistakes and and learn from them, comment, 304 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:57.910 but he really focused all of his energy around developing a passion for the business 305 00:22:57.990 --> 00:23:02.990 he was, he was in the people that were running the business and really 306 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:07.069 focusing on mastery. We're going to talk a lot about how important it is 307 00:23:07.230 --> 00:23:11.349 to master the role of CEO as you grow and develop, and he was 308 00:23:11.470 --> 00:23:15.059 who I wanted to be back in one thousand nine hundred and ninety five, 309 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:17.339 and it's and he still who I want to be now. I really sort 310 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:21.660 of see myself as emulating from that now and he, Grove, may not 311 00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:26.339 be as obvious as someone like a Steve Jobs or be Zo's or, you 312 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:29.849 know, the facebook folks or the the Google folks, but choose whoever you 313 00:23:30.049 --> 00:23:34.450 want. I think it's important for you to choose someone who should really relate 314 00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:38.569 to and that is ideally with in reach, and someone that you can relate 315 00:23:38.650 --> 00:23:42.279 to and who's in who's within reach, and spend time with this person if 316 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:48.000 you can, or just study them. Try to get introductions to that person 317 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.200 and really use their example to create goals for your own growth. My next 318 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.910 piece of advice is to get a coach. Some of the best athletes in 319 00:23:56.950 --> 00:24:03.109 the world have a coach. Seems counterintuitive that a CEO would need a coach, 320 00:24:03.670 --> 00:24:07.029 but I have to tell you it's probably one of the most important things 321 00:24:07.069 --> 00:24:11.579 you can do as CEO to grow your skill set, become better at your 322 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:18.700 craft and develop in your role. The most important reason that athletes seek out 323 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:22.220 CEOS and need someone to help them practice, someone the route for them when 324 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:26.650 they're down and someone to really help them unlock their their rough talent and hone 325 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:32.569 it for the win and, frankly, just someone to talk to about things 326 00:24:32.650 --> 00:24:36.730 on their mind. The CEO role can be a very lonely role, as 327 00:24:36.769 --> 00:24:41.680 you're fine and we talked about within this series. CEO's need coaches and, 328 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:45.839 whether you know it or not, many of the best CEOS in the world 329 00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:48.839 have them. Steve Jobs had a coach, Bill Gates had a coach, 330 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:53.589 Eric Schmidt had a coach, I can keep going on, and so everyone 331 00:24:53.630 --> 00:25:00.750 has a coach who's really, you know, carefully behind the CEO, playing 332 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:06.029 a very important role. They're really offering the impartial eye. They they can 333 00:25:06.069 --> 00:25:08.619 see things about you that you can't see. They help you improve on your 334 00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:15.380 strengths and find your weaknesses. They tell you like it is. And finally, 335 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:19.700 coaches have seen your movie before and they can help you avoid making unoriginal 336 00:25:19.779 --> 00:25:23.130 mistakes. In the series we're going to meet a coach and we're going to 337 00:25:23.170 --> 00:25:26.849 talk about some of the best coaches in the industry. So definitely stay tuned 338 00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:30.410 for that. But I think the most important thing I want to resonate with 339 00:25:30.089 --> 00:25:33.730 is the role of the coach and why you needed as a CEO. Think 340 00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:38.240 of yourself as an athlete that's really honing it raw skill to become better over 341 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:42.720 time. May become the best it that you can and I just said you 342 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:47.440 know, being a CEO is lonely, and so you need a community. 343 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:52.950 At times you're going to feel really by yourself dealing with some tough challenges as 344 00:25:52.950 --> 00:25:56.789 a CEO, really hard decisions that you have to make, and if you 345 00:25:56.829 --> 00:26:00.750 don't have a community around you to support you, it can be very, 346 00:26:00.829 --> 00:26:07.180 very challenging at times, both personally and professionally. So if you truly want 347 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:11.140 to master the craft that being a CEO, the next piece of advice is 348 00:26:11.299 --> 00:26:15.299 really to join a community. Being CEO is a very lonely job at times. 349 00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:19.849 In fact, in forums, which is where you want to go. 350 00:26:21.569 --> 00:26:25.849 CEO Peer Groups you can find leaders of companies of all sizes that get together 351 00:26:25.930 --> 00:26:30.769 and share their challenges and they provide sound advice. In fact, I joined 352 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:34.119 my first one nearly ten years ago. It was the best decision I've ever 353 00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:38.559 made. I continue to participate in forums as much as I can, both 354 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:45.960 to stay current with challenges, learnings best practices and, more importantly, to 355 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:51.470 bounce off ideas with real CEOS who are living and fighting every day just like 356 00:26:51.670 --> 00:26:55.509 you know, I finally had a place where I could I could work through 357 00:26:55.670 --> 00:26:59.029 some of the real challenges in my business and personal life and I could speak 358 00:26:59.109 --> 00:27:02.700 freely and vent when I wanted to. So, more importantly, it gave 359 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:06.380 it gave me time away from the business to think strategically. I also learned 360 00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:08.259 so much about my business looking at others in my peer group. So there 361 00:27:08.299 --> 00:27:14.059 are number of them out there. I certainly encourage you to take a look 362 00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:17.970 at those and in our series we're going to be meeting some of the best 363 00:27:18.089 --> 00:27:25.769 as well and having conversations about how they've benefit CEOS and and how CEOS can 364 00:27:25.769 --> 00:27:30.960 learn from them. So let's recap. So you know, this episode is 365 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:36.480 about being a CEO for the first time. The first piece of advice is 366 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.519 take charge right so when you're in that seat, take charge. You're now 367 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:47.029 responsible for making those tough decisions. Be Laser focused. Don't do too many 368 00:27:47.109 --> 00:27:51.349 things at once. To start out, understand where business you're in. Ask 369 00:27:51.430 --> 00:27:56.029 Your Business to tough wise and really try to understand where you should be focused 370 00:27:56.069 --> 00:27:59.259 right now. Read. Read as much as you can, spend about one 371 00:27:59.339 --> 00:28:03.180 to two hours per day reading, and try to get books in a advice 372 00:28:03.259 --> 00:28:06.740 from other CEOS or, as I said, we've got lots of books for 373 00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:11.180 you to choose from. Next, equal pain of making mistakes with learning. 374 00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:18.329 Equal pain with learning. Pain is where the learning happens. Remember that pain 375 00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:22.250 is where the learning happens. Next is live with your customers. In fact, 376 00:28:22.490 --> 00:28:26.089 fall in love with your customers. Never unlove them. You should be 377 00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.799 spending at least twenty percent of your time a week, that's at least one 378 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:33.839 day a week, with your customers. Get out there and see what what's 379 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.519 going on with them as a CEO and spend your time face to face with 380 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.160 those customers, having dinner with them and engaging with them. Final Role Model. 381 00:28:41.630 --> 00:28:45.230 Who are you trying to be as a CEO. Who's the best person, 382 00:28:45.710 --> 00:28:51.230 man or woman, that best describes who you want to be as a 383 00:28:51.349 --> 00:28:56.380 CEO? What sector is that person from? What's their background? Really get 384 00:28:56.460 --> 00:29:00.140 into who they are and hopefully you can meet them in person and learn from 385 00:29:00.180 --> 00:29:03.859 them. Get a coach. There are some amazing coaches out there who will 386 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:10.210 help you to understand a lot about yourself so that you can become the best 387 00:29:10.210 --> 00:29:15.930 athlete, to master the game of CEO and finally, join a community. 388 00:29:15.490 --> 00:29:19.089 Get together with other CEOS, even if it starts out with one friend of 389 00:29:19.170 --> 00:29:22.130 yours that you have dinner with once a month. The runs a couple of 390 00:29:22.210 --> 00:29:26.359 weeks, just kicking around the pain and suffering that you're experiencing as a CEO. 391 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:32.319 Do that and you will improve and definitely they will get a lot more 392 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:36.839 sleep as a CEO. I want to thank you for listening to this first 393 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:41.269 episode in our series. I'm John Bella's are. See you soon. Thanks 394 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:45.269 for listening to this episode of be to be growth CEO series. Again, 395 00:29:45.309 --> 00:29:49.190 I'm John Belaz are from the CEO playbook. To get the full list of 396 00:29:49.230 --> 00:29:53.339 advice I shared on this show and more, please visit CEO playbook DOTCO. 397 00:29:55.140 --> 00:29:57.900 Please connect with me on Linkedin, seeo playbook. I'm also on medium, 398 00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:03.099 CEEO playbook and twitter. John Belaz are, CEO. I'd love to hear 399 00:30:03.140 --> 00:30:07.569 from you. Please send me any questions or recommendations my way at any time. 400 00:30:07.569 --> 00:30:10.809 If you like this episode, please leave a review and share it with 401 00:30:10.890 --> 00:30:14.690 a friend. It really helps. If you have a question, join the 402 00:30:14.730 --> 00:30:18.890 discussion on Instagram at CEO Playbookcom. Thanks for tuning in and subscribing to be 403 00:30:19.009 --> 00:30:23.079 to be growth. Until next time, keep pushing and stay healthy out there. 404 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:30.640 I hate it when podcasts incessantly ask their listeners for reviews, but I 405 00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:34.359 get why they do it, because reviews are enormously helpful when you're trying to 406 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.750 grow a podcast audience. So here's what we decided to do. If you 407 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:41.869 leave a review for be tob growth and apple podcasts and email me a screenshot 408 00:30:41.950 --> 00:30:45.950 of the review to James at Sweet Fish Mediacom, I'll send you a signed 409 00:30:47.029 --> 00:30:49.740 copy of my new book, content based networking, how to instantly connect with 410 00:30:49.859 --> 00:30:52.940 anyone you want to know. We get a review, you get a free 411 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:55.099 book. We both win.
