How CEOs delve into challenging personalities at work and why you must master this skill if you want to be one.

Although 2024 officially began about a month ago, as a Brazilian, the year's kick-off is official only after Carnaval in mid-February/March. Now, as a USA citizen, I find myself navigating a middle ground, taking my time to reassess my goals and insights for 2024. Seizing the energy of the new year and the collective motivation that surrounds it, I've decided to embark on a new venture: a newsletter titled "Breakthrough."

Having had the privilege of working alongside CEOs for almost a decade, I've gained a unique vantage point to witness firsthand the essential skills that lead to success, both professionally and personally.

Throughout my career in large corporations across Brazil, Japan, and the USA, I've always pondered the differences between good and great.

Why do some individuals ascend to the top while others do not? What goes behind breakthroughs in a career or personal life?

While various factors such as privilege, connections, social and economic status, ethnicity, birthplace, religion, and culture play roles, my focus has been on specific skills. Not the technical ones, as those who reach C-level positions have already mastered those. Instead, I'm intrigued by the leadership qualities that propel us toward our best selves and the skills we can cultivate to make a meaningful impact in our lives.

My personal exploration led me to study Neuroscience & Education at TC Columbia University. As a graduate student, my focus has centered on human potential — examining the protocols, tools, and even substances (including drugs such as psychedelics) that can foster greatness and creativity.

In the upcoming series, I'll share insights accumulated over the past decade from my intuition intertwined with my most recent studies, aiming to guide you in exploring your own untapped potential.

Whether your aspirations involve climbing the corporate ladder to a future C-level role or seeking personal growth, my goal is to bring awareness. By recognizing these skills within yourself, you can learn how to nurture and enhance your chances of leading a more fulfilling professional and personal life.

For those occupying C-level positions, this series can serve as a guide, outlining crucial skills to consider when identifying and hiring the next wave of high achievers for your team.

Without further ado, here is the first edition of Breakthrough.

?CEOs operate within the confines of the available resources; in other words, they work with what is given, and the emphasis on organizational transformation rarely lies in altering individuals but rather in reshaping how people contribute and work systematically.

When closely working with a CEO, one will likely encounter two distinct archetypes: innovators and custodians of historical business data. Custodians often view innovators as too idealistic and chaotic, while innovators grapple with the resistance to openness from the custodians.

In a corporate context, a harmonious blend is imperative, like in the food business, the bliss point comes within the right amount of sugar and salt — individuals with extensive tenures as custodians offer profound insights into the business's history alongside innovators equipped with diverse experiences capable of introducing unconventional ideas and applying knowledge from past experiences to novel situations.

Regardless of personal alignment, CEOs depend on both factions — individuals possessing convergent thinking capabilities, which is the ability to narrow down ideas that most likely will come from custodians and innovators endowed with divergent thinking, the ability to create a multitude of ideas.

CEOs' greatness may rely on nurturing employees regardless of their proficiency, including when it averages due to their extensive history and institutional knowledge, specifically those with 10, 15, or more years within the same organization. It is not a blanket statement implying that everyone choosing to stay is average, but rather a recognition of the commonplace existence of individuals with profound organizational insights alongside their average performance.

This holds true even for innovators. CEOs may find themselves dedicating a substantial amount of time to attentive listening, sifting through a multitude of ideas in pursuit of that one breakthrough concept in between a hundred proposals, and the challenge that involves when it comes to managing creative, innovative people that often resist the norms and have a challenging time to work within a format or standard.

This coexistence is crucial; drawing parallels from breakthrough scientific discoveries, we can see that it often begins with a historical overview followed by a deep analysis that aims to identify gaps in the knowledge where innovative thinking can become paramount.

As someone who values innovation and creativity, I always wonder why CEOs retain custodians. On the other hand, custodians may ask how CEOs manage innovators and if it is worth it.

However, when CEOs opt to retain certain individuals, they excel in leveraging their expertise through a skill they mastered: coaching for improvement and maximizing latent potential.?

In addition, CEOs may count on a concept that I brought here from creative research: loosely decoupled.?

As per Hatchett Hanson, a creative researcher and professor at TC Columbia University:

Somehow, people become artists, writers, and inventive scientists while selling work, finding funding, currying favor with the powerful, and dealing with difficult colleagues. They remain “loosely decoupled” from their worlds.

CEOs strategically focus on the concept of "loosely decoupled" from creative research. They recognize that breakthrough creative acts and solutions emerge from diverse thinking. CEOs are laser-focused on their vision while guiding teams to collaborate effectively, even in the face of challenges posed by difficult and opposite personalities, market uncertainty, and political internal and external sensitivities, as described by Hanson.

Ultimately, a crucial trait for aspiring C-level positions is the ability to concentrate on people's potential rather than their weaknesses. Every individual harbors significant potential, and akin to a CEO role, it is the responsibility to identify and leverage that potential to align with the organization’s purpose and vision.

What archetypes do you recognize in yourself? Which archetype are you leaning towards? What roles do those archetypes play in your current leadership team?

Lastly, how are you balancing those roles in your organization to successfully get to the bliss point?

Wishing everyone success in 2024 in adopting the loosely decoupled protocol.

Subscribe, and please let me know your thoughts.

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