How can CEOs Be True Leaders?

Often, I asked myself why CEOs are more important to a company and how can they have the right to decide strategies when the founder is the higher-up person? That was maybe before even I started writing blogs. Soon enough, it was like a hammer knocked at my head when I understood the real meaning of CEO — Chief Executive Officer.

While most of you might know already, this would still help those readers who are still beginners in business topics, as I was once: “CEOs are the highest-ranked position in an organisation every businessman strives for, if he isn’t the owner. They are in charge of handling all operational tasks, ensuring the company’s goals and plans are met profoundly. His tasks include delegating and directing agendas, boosting profits, improving organisational performances and managing its structure, research and strategy finalisation and discussing it with the owner and board members before making the final deal.”

With this short explanation of who CEOs are or why CEOs are important, I’m sure you must have been able to relate to today’s topic — How CEOs can be true leaders?

So, How?

If you are a CEO reading this article, I might have to notify you that many of these methods can ask you to step your foot out of your comfort zone.

Attract the Culture everybody Believes in

With unemployment starting to fall low in ratio, gone has the time when executives flaunted their existence and talked about employees having no other choice than to join their firms. Honestly, employees are free birds and keep a tendency to join any company they desire. It’s all about the skills that the company requires. It’s a two-way thing, actually — Employees look out for companies with better learning options and payscale, whereas companies lookout for employees dedicated and skilled enough to handle work pressure.

Therefore, to bring it into a win-win situation, CEOs need to start modifying the office culture that appeals to outsiders looking to do business with you. At the same rate, the culture CEOs establish must also pay heed to the employees they hire so employees can relate to the strategies and goals.

That is one step to being a true leader as a CEO — building the right working environment for the team to proceed.

Establish a Sense of Diversity, Trust, and Collaboration

Be it any innovative business idea, traditional or modern; you get to find all the four generations working in a corporate firm (the Baby Boomers, the Generation X, Millennials, and the Generation Z). Being the CEO, you already have a load of pressure to handle. Communicating with each generation type with different attributes is not possible since there is a mindset change here.

As a CEO and a true leader, you can establish a sense of responsibility in each shoulder present in the team. Communicate wisely and clearly about your expectations — working as a team, sharing problems and happiness, ideating upon business strategy planning with thorough discussions among each other, zero violence, no ego, respect, and agreeing to the majority.

Efficient in Problem-Solving Skills

Leaders are meant to be excellent decision-makers in a serious leadership and management environment. Decisions and problem-solving are crucial factors that can take them to great heights. And for CEOs, problem-solving is a must eligibility factor. As a strong leader and the CEO of a company, you must apply your analytics skills and predictive analysis to address your company’s challenges.

When you demonstrate these abilities strongly, your team automatically understands the environment they are working in. It will be a source of motivation and pleasure for them to work under you.

Supportive of Team

Any fresh venture idea requires a head who can support his team and move forward with innovation and diversity, whether a CEO or an owner. There’s a saying: “Good leaders create vision. But great leaders live the vision.” They bring life to it and encourage others to follow the vision and turn it into reality.

And when it comes to acknowledging the efforts, great leaders are always bringing forth their team and the cumulative efforts put by the team. He discusses strategies and welcomes any creativity that his employees share — it includes creativity and solutions that can cope with modern-day challenges.

Accepting Failures and Vulnerability

It’s inevitable to face failures when in business. However, as a CEO, thinking that your team might not give you the same amount of respect if they see you making mistakes is a wrong conception. It’s fine if you are vulnerable. We all are. And to our surprise, we’ve even noticed how leaders in today’s time are quite open about their vulnerability.

Accepting your mistakes and being transparent about your shortcomings increases your credibility. And that’s true since people welcome those who know their mistakes and try to undo them.

What Great CEOs as Leaders Say?

Forbes uploaded a press release recently where they interviewed a few of the best CEOs/ Founders cum Leaders and asked how they would describe their leadership style. Here’s what they had to say:

Michel Doukeris — President and CEO, Anheuser-Busch

“For me, it starts with our people. Focus on recruiting the best talent, then inspire people to reach their full potential. Establish a clear vision and then empower the team to lead the company’s future growth.”

JT McCormick, President and CEO, Scribe Media

“I believe the role of leadership, at its core, is to serve and support the people you lead by way of teaching, coaching, and mentoring — with the ultimate goal of growing more leaders.”

Lawrence Calcano, CEO, iCapital Network

“Many things are needed for organisations to succeed. But great leaders always solve for team, mission and culture: getting the right people in the right roles (team); with everyone operating with complete clarity on what constitutes success (mission); and all driving and reinforcing accepted values and behaviours (culture).”

The Conclusion

One thing: CEOs can never fall into today’s workplace accountability. You are the Chief Executive Officer with the position of the chief strategic decision-maker. Your team needs you to be active and align with the fast-paced market competition. Embrace the complexity, and you can automatically come out of your comfort zone.

Expert Mind Solutions is a great Malaysian consultancy firm offering excellent company consulting services. With the help of a certified business coach in Malaysia, the firm provides unique HRDF corp claimable training to professionals seeking to grow their business or lead a better life with greater meaning in the world of innovation and entrepreneurship.