I Love CEOs

I love them, I love them! Like Renée Zellweger proclaimed in the film Jerry Maguire, I am here shouting it from the rooftops. I do not care who hears me…

I know it is a weird way to start the weekend, but I have been mulling over the role of CEOs and all my past relationships with them, especially over the last 15 years.

In fact, since launching The Collective, it became necessary to revisit all the amazing CEOs I have worked with and do two things:

Firstly, Apologise

Yep, apologise. I always knew leaders had to wear many hats, but I never truly appreciated the weight and complexity of those hats. I gave them a hard time, often and over many things, because we had goals and paths to follow. But business success does not always come in straight lines, priorities shift and change to get results.

I had not fully allowed for that because I had never seen it from their perspective. Now I have a whole new appreciation, and with that, the need to make allowances and apologies.

Secondly, Ask for Honest Feedback

No one likes it. In fact, I heard a great line this week, “feedback is a gift, it is just not one you want for Christmas.”

But to launch The Collective and take our services to a wider network, no longer built purely on years of trust and relationships, I had to understand what I was good at and what I was not.

The feedback surprised me. It was mostly positive, there was a lot of respect and goodwill, but the tougher parts, the things I needed to work on, were not new. I had heard them before.

So the real question became, why had I not fully acted on them? That is now the challenge I am setting myself.

Anyway, this is not about me. It is about CEOs.

The CEO-CFO Relationship

Here is something I firmly believe, the CEO CFO relationship is one of the most important, rewarding and challenging partnerships in business.

It is almost a magic formula, powerfully transformative when it works, and quietly destructive when it does not. Thankfully, my experience has leaned far more towards the former.

I used to often tell CEOs that my job was to make them great at theirs. But what I have come to realise is that it is a two way street. A great CEO will make me great at mine.

Looking back on those relationships, one thing stands out, when it works, it really works. And it tends to come down to a few core ingredients:

Trust

Both parties believe in each other’s intent and capability, putting the business ahead of ego or personal gain.

Openness

Creating an environment where both can be seen and heard, through good and bad times. At its best, it feels more like a partnership than a transaction, chosen, not forced.

Honesty

In the numbers, the market, the pipeline, the team and the strategy. Being real with each other and holding each other accountable.

I could go on, but when you strip it back, that is the core.

Invest in the Relationship

Too often, with senior C suite hires, we look for unicorns. Budgets are tight, expectations are high and there is a fear of getting it wrong, so we want the perfect formula, immediately.

But that is a fantasy.

Senior hires take time to settle. Relationships take time to build. Simply putting the right people together on paper is not enough, especially in a post COVID, hybrid world.

We have to invest in those relationships, like the “date nights” busy parents fight to keep.

In fact, I am becoming more of a fan of team building as I get older, and dare I say it, forced fun. Why not? It matters. We often spend more time with colleagues than with our own families, it is worth understanding each other properly.

The CEO plays a critical role in this.

The Player Manager

One of my favourite CEOs describes herself as a player manager, bear with me, non football fans:

She sets the strategy for the match and brings out the best in the team. Everyone knows where they need to be, and when. There is no micromanagement, she does not need to tell the goalkeeper where the goal is. That is trust.

When she passes the ball, someone is there to receive it and knows what to do next. That is openness and flow.

And then there is the post match review, honesty. The good, the bad, the ugly. Knowing how to deliver tough feedback so people grow, and being willing to reflect on her own performance too.

My Best CEOs

So, in another nutshell, my best CEOs are:

• Brave enough to set the strategy.
• Smart enough to know what they do not know.
• Kind enough to bring out the best in others.

When the formula is right, CEO and CFO can help build an exceptional team.

And remember, there is no “I” in team…

…but there is in I LOVE CEOs.