The Chief Everything Officer
(and how to become a proper CEO!)
When you’re growing and scaling a business, and especially when it’s your business, nobody cares about it as much as you do, so how do you trust others to help you grow and scale?
To boot, you also understand it better than anyone else, so bringing people in to join your company (your baby) to do things that you could probably do better seems like a waste of time and money. But it’s really not, so here are some things to think about to avoid you becoming the Chief Everything Officer.
Delegate the Things you Hate
You can’t be good at everything and if you’re doing things that you hate to do, then the chances are that you’re not particularly good at them and they sap your valuable energy. This may look different for each of us – and we may hire someone to do it or outsource it. That could be anything from customer services to social media to finance and modelling. Don’t break the bank to do it, but the time that this frees up for you can be used for more valuable things in the business.Do the Things that ONLY you can do
This is linked to above – if you do the things that only you can do in the business then you’ll be delivering the maximum value. Be honest with yourself though, because often CEOs confuse this with doing things that they enjoy doing and that’s completely different. You may enjoy filing and admin (weirdo!!) but that’s something that most people can do and it’s a cop out!!Find Thinking Time
If your diary is back to back, twenty four hours a day and seven days a week then strategy and forward thinking goes out the window. You don’t have to become a Zen Master or disappear off to a wilderness retreat, but do find that thinking time and make it a priority. If you can find a business coach to help and support you, then that’s a great use of time, energy and not a huge amount of cash. It’s a gift to you from you.Don’t Find People Just Like You, but Find People who Get You
Especially for the first hires, look for those people who believe in your mission. Don’t be unrealistic and expect them to believe it as much as you do, but your early hires are important and can give you energy and enthusiasm. They don’t need to be mega-senior – but if they get you and your mission then they’ll probably be with you for a while and grow into the business.
What to Bring In-House and What to Outsource?
Another tricky subject and this could be anything from tech development to customer service to warehousing and fulfilment depending on your business. Again there’s a trade off here between the relative cost of hiring or doing it yourself and freeing up the time to do more valuable things. If you’re a tech company, then optically you’ll have someone in-house who is responsible for tech even if you outsource some of the development. Equally if you’re an e-commerce business, one reason for outsourcing your warehousing and distribution may be that your external provider may have economies of scale and be able to drive discounts that are reflected in their pricing to you. So no easy answer, but outsourcing is an option to consider alongside your own hires.Establish Decision Making Processes (and stick to them)
If you try and make every decision in the business, you will definitely become the Chief Everything Officer. There should be three layers of decision making – the Board, the Executive and the team. Make sure that it’s clear which layer is making which decision and stick to it. Don’t be tempted to make decisions that the team should make or allow them to lean on you too much when they’re making them. They’ll learn from mistakes and be better next time.
It's very exciting being a CEO and most people want to be the CEO in their business. It’s not for everyone, and some founders we know have ended up settling into roles like CTO or COO. It doesn’t mean that it’s not your baby – it’s just that you want to add the best value you can and be the best you can be for the business.
Ultimately, if you can grow people then people will grow your business!! And remember the old adage… Teamwork makes the Dreamwork!
