CEO Sessions - Session 1 - Emile Raubenheimer

He was sitting in The Daily, I had my 5 questions ready in my head and he had them on his phone from a day before. The moment I sat down and the small talk was over, he 'ripped' my entire question paper up by asking this: 'So why do you want to become a CEO?'

Now, for context, Emile and I have known each other for a few years and he knows a little about me...so none of what he said was meant as digs, in fact it was a textbook example of what constructive feedback looks like.

What are CEO Sessions?

I decided to talk to 12 CEO's in 12 months during the year in order to soak up some knowledge from people who have been where I have been. The goal is to ask 5 questions in under 30 minutes and learn as much as I can from the session. Writing an article each time and doing a quarterly podcast is the way I decided to cement my learning this year.

Questioning the Questions.

Now session 1 got off to a rocky start (or so it felt). You would think that I would know why I wanted to be a CEO, seeing as my entire corporate year's target is about this exact thing. Referencing Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Emile explained exactly what CEO's do and how good CEO's think. My original questions, should he have answered them, would give me very high-level understanding of only his thinking. This would then also be his 'fast'-thinking responses that would perhaps only give me a partial view of how he got to the answer. Even further than this, Emile challenged me by asking if the answers to my questions would actually make me a better CEO in the future.

The Way Forward

Phew. So 30 minutes in I was unsure of why I wanted to be a CEO, tore up my questions and wondered if CEO Sessions would actually aid me in growing into my leadership. But all was not lost, in fact, a lot was found. To be made aware in January of the approach I needed to take to get the best out of these sessions was possibly the best nugget I could have got.

Furthermore, I learnt from Emile that the value of asking the right questions help us to think better and gain more from those questions. A CEO, according to me and my newly found perspective, will make intentional time (thinking slow) to ask questions from the team, to eventually make the best decisions in the moment (thinking fast). The way forward then, seemed a lot brighter.

A Little Closer

Feedback is my friend, I learnt that day in The Daily. A CEO can learn as much as he teaches and when I get to understand my thinking process and the way I solve problems, I can go on and be a better leader. If CEO's are made to break down complex problems and find the right solutions for each of them, then I feel I grew a little bit closer to being one through this experience.

I am thankful for Emile for guiding me in the process and for sending me into the year a bit wiser, now on to the next leader!

TF

PS: Check out Emile's YouTube channel here: Emile Raubenheimer