Five Temptations of CEO

LEADERS FAIL BECAUSE THEY ARE UNWILLING TO PUT THEIR TEMPTATIONS ON THE TABLE FOR OTHERS TO SEE. WHAT THEY PERCEIVE AS CRITICISM IS ACTUALLY INVALUABLE COUNSEL. THE KEY IS TO EMBRACE THE SELF-EXAMINATION THAT REVEALS THE TEMPTATIONS AND TO KEEP THEM IN THE OPEN WHERE THEY CAN BE ADDRESSED

The Five Temptations of a CEO

The Five Temptations of a CEO highlights the common pitfalls faced by leaders. Being the CEO of an organization is one of the most difficult challenges a person can face in a career. But it is not a complicated one. In fact, when it comes right down to it, there are only five really important things a CEO has to do in order to optimize his or her success. But more importantly, a CEO has to avoid the five temptations that lead to eventual failure.

 Temptation #1: Status :

Strategies for overcoming : § Focus on results, § Publicly commit to measurable results, § Evaluate your success based on these results alone.

Temptation #2: Popularity

 Strategies for overcoming : § Hold people accountable, § Confront direct reports immediately about behavior and performance, § Clarify expectations up front to make confronting direct reports easier

Temptation #3: Certainty

Strategies for overcoming: § Provide clarity, § Set public deadlines for making key decisions, § Practice making decisions without complete information around less risky issues.

Temptation #4: Harmony

Strategies for overcoming: § Establish productive conflict, § Draw out differing opinions and perspectives from staff members, § Engage in and allow passionate discussions about key issues

Temptation #5: Invulnerability

Strategies for overcoming: § Build trust, § Acknowledge your own weaknesses and mistakes, § Allow direct reports to see your human side.

#1 You may be more interested in protecting your career status than you are in making sure your company achieves results. The temptation to focus on my career and my status above my focus on the company’s results. It is the temptation to reward people who contribute to their ego, instead of those who contribute to the results of the company. Don’t hold the company and the people you work with hostage to your ego.

 #2 Wanting to be popular with those who report to you, instead of holding them accountable. The need to be liked and popular with my staff, at the expense of holding them accountable. No one had the guts to tell them what was expected of them Work for the long-term respect of your employees, not for their affection. It’s not supposed to be complicated. You make it complicated because you’re not facing your own issues

·        Does it bother you to the point of distraction if your people are unhappy with you?

·        Do you water down negative feedback to make it more palatable?

 #3 It’s the temptation to ensure that your decisions are correct, to make correct decisions to achieve certainty. We don’t like to decide things without perfect information, because we don’t want to be wrong. It’s the temptation to choose certainty over clarity. I think that having a great vision and mission is only important if you know how to execute. I’ll take a well-executing company over a visionary one any day. I think you are afraid to be criticized. To look bad or, they don’t want to hold people accountable because they’re afraid to be unpopular. They don’t hold people accountable because they haven’t bothered to be clear about what they expect from people. If he couldn’t be comfortable being wrong, he wouldn’t make tough decisions with limited information. You can’t move forward in the face of uncertainty if you aren’t willing to make mistakes. Make clarity more important than accuracy It’s your job to risk being wrong. The cost to your company of not taking the risk of being wrong is paralysis.

 #4 Is the desire for harmony. You’re confusing the fear of being unpopular with the fear of your group being in conflict with one another. If no one gets a little pushed out of shape during a meeting, I feel like we probably didn’t put all our issues on the table. Do they like me? I guess so, but they don’t respect me as much as they would if I were consistent. Most people, including CEO’s believe that it is better for people to agree and get along than disagree and conflict with one another. Harmony sometimes restricts “productive ideological conflict”. Tumultuous meetings are often signs of progress. Tame ones are often signs of leaving important issues off the table. Guard against personal attacks, but not to the point of stifling important interchanges of ideas

#5 The desire for invulnerability. Actively encourage your people to challenge your ideas. Trust them with your reputation and your ego.