The CEO Matters Newsletter (Edition 10)

There are six pages for you in this edition:

Page 1: CEO Spotlight - Mark Frank, Co-Founder and CEO of SonderMind

Page 2: Pages - The Ownership Mindset by Kerry Siggins

Page 3: Leadership - It's Lonely at the Top

Page 4: CEO Fitness - It's Time to Get a Grip

Page 5: Quotes - Nothing You Love is Lost

Page 6: And one more thing..... Gotham Burger Social Club

Page 1: CEO Spotlight - Co-Founder and CEO of SonderMind

Mark Frank, Co-founder and CEO of SonderMind is one of Colorado's unicorns. Like many successful entrepreneurs, Frank subscribed to the quote "find a need and fill it." Recognizing the opportunity to remove the friction that many people experienced in finding a therapist and that many therapists found in starting and maintaining their practices, he co-founded SonderMind in 2014.

Frank has always had a knack for timing. He graduated from West Point during one the longest periods of peacetime and then found himself leading troops in Iraq following 9/11. After military service, he left the Investment Bank Lehman Brothers just prior to their collapse and proceeded to start SonderMind right before the Pandemic. Through his early career, Frank developed an acuity for noticing opportunities and designing solutions that stick. He is not afraid of a challenge.

What CEOs can learn from Mark Frank:

1. Be curious and ask questions to see if there is a better answer. Frank founded SonderMind because both people and therapists were being stymied by an archaic industry.

2. Be very clear about the business you are in and the problem you solve. Stick to your mission and surround yourself with the people that bring energy and talent to your mission.

3. Measure quality. Frank was adamant from the beginning that he wanted to be able to measure the quality of the care SonderMind provided.

4. Have the courage to make difficult decisions. SonderMind has its challenges. Yet Frank is committed to building out the model and vision that he and Co-Founder Sean Boyd started with in 2014.

Page 2: Pages - The Ownership Mindset by Kerry Siggins

Kerry is the drug addict in the corner office. Ok, well, not any more. While she is very forthright about her prior mistakes and substance abuse issues, she also tells the tale of getting herself on a better course.

Actually she is like a CEO on steroids. You know how business books are. You see just the cover in the airport bookstore, and figure you can probably learn something. After a month, you still haven't got past page 37 and it's either obnoxiously redundant or it's a better sleep inducer than melatonin and the Calm app.

This isn't that.

The Ownership Mindset is a page turner. Why? Because Siggins has the guts to tell it like it is. Yes, she made some poor decisions when she was young. And who among us, except me of course, hasn't? But each time, she picked herself up and reinvented who she was. She went for it. Being the unlikely hire for the General Manager position at StoneAge, Inc. she kept building her skill set to become the CEO. And then was later told "You're not really a CEO."

Well guess what, she is one hell of a CEO and her results prove it.

Siggins learned in the trenches. She poured through books, hired coaches, and had the guts to try things out. Some ideas worked. Some didn't. But her batting average is pretty good.

The Ownership Mindset is essentially an MBA in a box. Lessons she learned are delivered in a hard-hitting staccato writing style with action steps in every chapter. The book reminds me of the "One-a-Day" vitamins I took as a kid. Read a chapter in the morning and you have a shot at making your company stronger and healthier each day.

Page 3: Leadership - It's Lonely at the top

CEOs often experience feelings of loneliness and isolation due to the pressures and responsibilities of their role. A recent Harvard Business Review survey found that 50% of CEOs reported feeling lonely, with 61% believing it hindered their performance.

It’s a more complicated question than one might think. First, let’s distinguish between lonely and isolated. In an interview, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple commented that the issue isn't so much loneliness as it is isolation.

Loneliness has been defined as a “perception that one is socially on the edge.” Let’s not make light of mental issues such as decision fatigue, stress, burnout and the like. These present serious issues for CEOs and others. But on the whole, CEOs aren’t really lonely. Are they?

Rather, it’s more about isolation. And in some respects this isolation can be the result of their own actions and behaviors. CEOs can find themselves in an echo chamber. It’s been said that power is the currency of success. Over time, a CEO can inadvertently begin to surround themselves only with people that tell them what they want to hear. This is also known as CEO Disease and it’s more prevalent than we might think. After all, who wants to deliver bad news or tell the boss that their grand new vision might not be a good idea.

Lee Iacocca, a former CEO of Chrysler,? was known for his bold leadership style and innovative ideas. Over time he became increasingly confident that he was always right and surrounded himself with a leadership team who were reticent and unwilling to challenge him. As a result, he became resistant to criticism and failed to adapt to the changing landscape of the automotive industry. Ultimately, Chrysler had to be bailed out by the government.

What can a CEO do?

1. Develop your network.

This could be a formal CEO peer group or an informal network of business associates whose advice you value. Bounce your ideas and challenges off them and ask for their perspective. The CEO Matters Roundtable and The CEO Collaborative are a good place to start.

2. Learn to trust.

Yes, as a CEO you have to be guarded. However, trust your intuition and let others in. If you set the trust bar too high you may be self architecting your own isolation.

3. Intentionally connect.

When she was CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi sent hundreds of letters to her senior leaders' parents raving about the positive contributions to Pepsi that their children made. While the 1970’s AT&T slogan “Reach Out and Touch Someone” might have gotten them and you in a world of hurt if misinterpreted, CEOs need to be intentional in developing trusted, safe connections with their leadership team, with their employees and honestly, with all of their stakeholders.

Then, maybe, just maybe, you won't feel so isolated.

Page 4: CEO Fitness - It's time to get a grip.

As a CEO you are constantly making decisions. Sometimes with insufficient information. And let's be honest, there are times when you just don't know. But this you do know, you work hard to maintain your edge and to ensure that your decision-making is on-point. And while you may follow a fitness regimen, you might be overlooking a crucial element in your routine: grip strength. It's not only important for opening pickle jars, it's also been linked to mental fitness and cognitive function.

The Connection Between Grip Strength and Mental Health

In the post-pandemic times, mental fitness has become a more prominent topic. In conversation with many of my CEO clients, they've given up "waiting for things to get back to normal." Instead they are sharpening their thinking and pivoting to what the new normal means to them and their business. Business today has been referred to as VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. In other words, business is harder. Fatigue, stress and and even burnout are even more frequent now.

Recent studies have revealed that stronger grip strength is associated with lower risks of cognitive decline, less stress, and better mental health. This connection may seem surprising at first, but it is grounded in the complex interplay between physical health and brain function. Exercising your grip sends oxygen and blood to the brain. More importantly, it works large sections of the brain. That's why activities such as gardening are so good for us. It works the hands and the brain. This is essential for nourishing brain cells and removing waste products. Additionally, developing your grip strength stimulates the production of neurotrophic factors that are vital for the health and function of neurons, thereby supporting cognitive function and mental well-being.

How to Improve Grip Strength

Improving grip strength is relatively straightforward and can be integrated into your existing fitness routine or performed during short breaks throughout the day. Here are a few exercises that CEOs can easily adopt:

1. Hand Grippers: These portable devices are designed to improve grip strength through resistance training. Squeezing a hand gripper for several repetitions can strengthen the hand muscles, and they're convenient enough to be used anywhere.
2. Farmer's Walk: This exercise involves walking while holding weights in both hands. These could be kettlebells or better yet grip barbell plates with only your fingers. This not only improves grip strength but also enhances overall body strength and stability.
3. Dead Hangs: By simply hanging from a pull-up bar with both hands, you engage and strengthen the grip muscles, along with the forearms and shoulders. Dead hangs also have the added benefit of improving shoulder health. Plus it gives new meaning to "hanging out at the gym."
4. Wrist Curls and Reverse Wrist Curls: These exercises target the forearm muscles, which play a significant role in grip strength. They can be performed with dumbbells or a barbell, making them easy to incorporate into any workout routine.
5. Stress Balls: Regularly using a stress ball not only helps in improving grip strength but also serves as a stress relief tool, killing two birds with one stone instead of one of your direct reports.

Integrating Grip Strength Training into a Busy Schedule

For busy CEOs, finding time for extensive workouts can be challenging. However, the beauty of grip strength exercises are their simplicity and flexibility. Many of these exercises can be done simultaneously with other activities or during short breaks, making them ideal for the time-constrained leader.

Page 5: Quotes - Nothing You Love is Lost

“Nothing you love is lost. Not really. Things, people—they always go away, sooner or later. You can’t hold them, any more than you can hold moonlight. But if they’ve touched you, if they’re inside you, then they’re still yours. The only things you ever really have are the ones you hold inside your heart.”

― Bruce Coville

Ever since he was in the sixth grade Bruce Coville knew he wanted to be a writer. Having worked odd jobs as a gravedigger, an assembly-line worker and a salesman, he published his first book in 1978. Since then, he's written more than 100 children's books. He leans toward science fiction and refuses to disclose whether or not he has ever been abducted by aliens.

Page 6:? And one more thing.....

I can't believe I'm saying it. Seriously. "I love a great burger." You can have your Five Guys and Shake Shacks all you want. I want one of these bad boys.

This isn't your East Coast Big Mac. No sir. This is pure heaven served with a side of chemotherapy.

This is the smash burger on steroids. The burger is cooked by pulverizing beef patties on a flat-top grill, smothering them with shaved onions, and then flipping them to simmer in their own juices. You can have one with pickles and American cheese or flip off the purists by adding pickled jalape?os and ghost pepper ranch. The patty crunches, the cheese melts, the onions ooze, and the bun melts away.

And while you're at it why not add loaded tater tots, frickles and an egg cream. This is the ultimate "cheat day" on your otherwise sanctified, Keto diet.

Gotham Burger Social Club was started by Mike Puma grilling up these tasty burger bombs as a pop-up NYC. In November, 2023, he opened his restaurant in Soho.