2 Keys to Effective Collaboration and Achieving a CEO Mindset

I began reintroducing my Be Your Own CEO philosophy last year to explore how it comes to life at Capital One and help professionals at every level in their careers maximize their potential. I’m excited to jump back into the topic and cover the final principles of the framework. In case you missed my earlier deep dives in this series, I covered Take Care of Yourself here, Know Your Purpose and Be Passionate here, along with Be Disciplined and Let Others Lead here.?

Leverage Others and Communicate and Listen go hand in hand, as you can’t effectively accomplish one without the other. It’s incredibly hard to know when and how to leverage those around you if you’re not nurturing open lines of communication and truly listening.

Knowing these principles are related, how can you work on developing these key traits within your current role? Below, we’ll drill down on what it means to Leverage Others and Communicate and Listen in a bit more detail.

Leverage Others

Successful CEOs leverage everyone and everything around them—for problem-solving, motivation and collaboration. They lean on their teams, delegate wisely and trust others with projects. They believe that transformative ideas can come from anyone.

Like every step in this process, leveraging others can apply to any job you have. If you are in a new position, you can leverage your colleagues by asking for guidance based on their past experiences. If you are a leader, you can leverage your team by involving them in decisions and asking for their perspectives. You can also leverage your peers by seeking their advice and guidance.

Within Capital One, I’ve always loved seeing cross-functional teams work together to create a better customer experience. When each team member is on equal footing, encouraged to bring any and all ideas to the table regardless of their job title, you get that spark that can lead to breakthroughs and innovative solutions. By including more people in the group’s effort and leveraging each person’s expertise, you’ll be rewarded with a more cohesive team and stronger long-term results.??

Additionally, as I’ve explored in the article on Be Disciplined, constraints are a reality for every person in every company. However, leveraging others can be critical when you face constraints—such as budget, time and decision-making power—because chances are that someone else has gone through the same thing. They may even have ideas on how you can innovate within the constraints and come to an even more impactful outcome.

The folks around you are your resources. Cultivate relationships and leverage those connections to help chart your path forward.?

Communicate and Listen

Treat your coworkers like a CEO would treat their stakeholders. Communicate clearly and carefully to them. Don’t just assume people understand—ensure you set clear expectations and continually reiterate your message. This requires patience, but it’s one of the most important parts of the job. Some of my colleagues joke about my token sayings, but I know they’ve heard me!

Communication is so important to the culture at Capital One, and we see it as more than just how you write or speak. Great communicators meet their audiences where they are to get their point across in a clear and direct manner. This step is often underappreciated, but it is absolutely critical to your long-term success.

Equally as important is listening. CEOs have the opportunity to hear from everyone—outside parties, other innovators, regulators, peers and employees at all levels—which can cultivate fresh ideas and perspectives. And great CEOs don’t just make people feel like they are listening, they actually listen to them. That means asking for input, following up with probing questions, encouraging honest feedback and looking for opportunities to champion others’ ideas.

I’ll point to one example of listening to outside parties from the Financial Services Division at Capital One. A few years ago, we began conducting an in-depth survey that included both dealers and car buyers. The objective of the Car Buying Outlook was to study the shifting retail marketplace and surface areas where the two sides weren’t seeing things eye to eye. We discovered some major perception gaps in the level of transparency and trust in current online and in-person transactions. Instead of guessing the pain points in the auto industry, we listened and we’ve used those learnings to build better products that help dealers bridge those gaps with car buyers.?

Keep Driving Forward

These practical steps can make such a profound impact on you and your colleagues. You may even have opportunities where you can apply these principles right away—your next meeting with your boss or direct report, a development conversation, a networking coffee, a project meeting or a performance review.?

Comment on the article and let me know how you’ll work to improve your ability to Leverage Others, Communicate and Listen in the days and weeks ahead.

The CEO mindset continues to open doors to amazing possibilities for me and many others who have joined me on this journey. I hope you keep driving forward to fully embrace these concepts.