CEO, CFO, COO: Are You Available or Are You Absent?
“Executive,” as
you know by now, is more than a title. It’s an environment. You appear distant
to most of those in your organization. Your job, along with all the other
responsibilities you have acquired since moving into that corner office, is to
communicate, to inspire, and to foster optimism. Read all the books; watch all
the Power Point presentations on how to go about doing all that. Then, come
back to these simple suggestions:
- Demonstrate excellence. How you proceed through your professional day will set a tone. You want it to be a good one. You are the example, not the exception.
- It’s important to set high standards for the moment-by-moment activities as well as for the new projects. You will help your staff think beyond the status quo.
- Reinforce high performance with enthusiasm. Encourage your people to look for and present new ideas. Sincerely praise their efforts.
- Challenge the negative outlooks while identifying the risks and their consequences.
- Let your people know that there are no failures. Mistakes will be made, to be sure. But they provide necessary feedback and open the door to the next steps.
Today’s
executive is under more pressure than ever before, both from within and outside
the organization. To many, you are The Enemy. You get large bonuses, large
salaries, and large offices while the general worker loses health coverage and
struggles to make ends meet. You must create an atmosphere of trust,
confidence, and a greater level of comfort. When you’re trustworthy, you
encourage those with whom you work to become trustworthy as well. And when
people feel that they count, that they matter, and that they are heard, the
stage is set for a new level of success.
You are the
model. Choose to be a great one.