How To Connect With & Influence Any CEO
CEOs have a massive and disproportionate impact on a organization, more than most people realize. They are a vital channel if you want to something to happen, and the more senior you get, the more their reputation will affect how you personally are perceived externally.
So how do you connect with and influence your own – or any – CEO?
The reality of being a CEO is that it’s a tough job, with high expectations, lots of stakeholders to manage and huge time pressure. This means that many CEOs are often fire-fighting, and in between back-to-back meetings and trips. Often their lives are chaotic.
The first mistake most people make is that they hold CEOs in awe. Yes, anyone who reaches the top of any organization deserves some respect. But no CEO has all the answers. People often clam up when they first meet a CEO, and do themselves a disservice.
So if you want to connect, first, stop looking up to them in awe like most people they meet. Instead treat them as a respected peer, and focus on connecting properly and adding some value to their business.
So How Do You Add Value To A CEO?
CEOs actually are motivated in different ways, they have different strengths and weaknesses, and they value different things. They’re all interested in added value, but they perceive value differently.
And on top of that, it takes different communication approaches to influence them. So the key is to work out which type of CEO you are dealing with, and then tailor your approach accordingly. Then go in and be a peer.
Interviewing and coaching thousands of CEOs has taught me that, in the West, there are 7 main ‘CEO types’. These are:
(1) Commercial Executor
Definition:
- Driving focus on achieving best results in industry
- Relentless focus & attention to details to ensure operational & strategic ambitions become reality
Example: Jack Welch, Former CEO of GE & Chairman, Jack Welch Management Institute
How To Influence:
Communicate plans based on impact on KPIs in their execution system; show then that you are focused & determined to deliver.
(2) Corporate Entrepreneur
Definition:
- Have something to prove
- Disrupt industries because they believe in a better way of doing things
- Excel in spotting breakthroughs & making them a reality
- Their vision for their company is their vision for life
Example: Steve Jobs, Founder & Former CEO, Apple
How to influence:
Find a opportunity or a unseen issue and when they challenge you, push back hard in such a way that shows you know your stuff. This will earn them your respect and then you can have proper business conversation.
(3) Corporate Ambassador
Definition:
- Have a global vision with broader societal impact
- Operate at geopolitical level & deliver transactions that transform industries
Example: Lord John Browne, Former CEO, BP
How to influence:
Share your world view & understand theirs. Explore opportunities for connection & building bridges. Bring to life the wider stakeholder benefits and their role it in up ahead.
(4) Global Missionary
Definition:
- On personal mission to make significant difference, as well as a corporate mission to make company great
- Typically customer champions, they lead by inspiring & energizing people to tap into their potential
Example: Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys
How To Influence:
Seek to understand their mission and share yours. Find an opportunity to work together where they overlap.
(5) People Leader
Definition:
- Find success through and with people
- Positive, strong belief and empowering
- Marshall teams to deliver their best
- Build a trusting culture
Example: Angela Ahrendts, Burberry (Senior VP designate of Retail and Online Stores, Apple)
How To Influence:
Understand their philosophy and bring to life your passion and talent and dreams. Come up with ideas to move the commercial agenda or the soft agenda forward.
(6) Industry Technical Expert
Definition:
- Normally spent their life in an industry, believe that they know it better than anyone else.
Example: Industry dependent
How To Influence:
Get them to share their industry world view and their view on the main execution challenges. Then work out how to help them deliver.
(7) Professional Manager
Definition:
- Bring efficiency, processes and connecting systems
- Reliable & committed, yet struggle to inspire workforce and do innovative breakthroughs
Example: Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
How To Influence:
Listen to and respect them, introduce incremental opportunities, and flag up the risk and consequences of not moving forward.
Over To You
So before you meet a CEO, remember to try and work out which type of CEO they are. Some CEO have multiple types but most CEOs usually have one primary type.
Always communicate in their world, unless – as with a corporate entrepreneur – you’re consciously trying to jolt them and mismatch to earn their respect.
Find common ground to connect on, and over time, build up a relationship with them. To sustain a relationship, you have to add real value – in a way they value – building trust and helping them with areas they find difficult over time. You may be surprised at just how much positive impact you have as a CEO confidant.
LIKE & SHARE:
If you found this post useful in thinking about how you connect with CEOs and top leaders.
COMMENT:
Please let us know in the comments section below which CEO type(s) you think your boss is and why. Do you effectively communicating with them, or is there something which you will now do differently?
FOLLOW:
Do follow me here on LinkedIn as I bring to life what’s happening in the World Of CEOs on a weekly basis, along with regular leadership, social media, career, hiring and productivity insights.
JOIN:
Signup for my weekly ‘CEO Insider’ leadership & career development email at:
https://www.worldofceos.com/ceo-insider-signup
Image credit: Getty Images
This article joins my leadership skills series. The goal is to share the latest best practices in a way you can put to practical use yourself. Also check out:
Leadership Skill #1: Build Trust With Anyone
Leadership Skill #2: Do You Have A Dream?
Leadership Skill #3: "Wow" With Your Career & Life Story
Leadership Skill #4: The 5 Steps To Master Happiness Through Time
By Steve Tappin
At Xinfu, Steve is a personal confidant to many of the world’s top CEOs. He is the host of BBC 'CEO Guru’, which features in-depth, on-the-record interviews with the CEOs of the biggest and fastest-growing companies. Founder Of WorldOfCEOs.com, Steve is the author of ‘The Secrets Of CEOs’, which interviews 200 CEOs on business life and leadership.
Helping Others Create Value For Those They Serve
1 年My biggest takeaway..."Instead treat them as a respected peer, and focus on connecting properly and adding some value to their business." Almost identical to what I teach my students and coach my clients to do regarding connecting with people at the greatest point of parity - our potential. This was valuable. Thanks!
Empowering Financial Advisors to grow their AUM | Master your Mindset, Marketing & Sales | Author of Renegade Mindset for Financial Advisors | Podcaster
7 年Fantastic article - very clear on how to add value to different types of CEOs.
Mentoring leaders to use AI/Tech to boost performance, & productivity; Keynote Speaker, TEDx, Multi-Guinness world record certificate holder; Chair, HM Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee’s STEM & Education programme
10 年Great piece on the different types of CEOs. It proves that the personality defines the job. I wonder what percentage of them are parents.And how many of them reproduce their "kind". Succession plan must be core to long term success or legacy.
HR Director, Purapharm China Sales
10 年Like