Leadership Chapter 13

Having never had a conversation with the CEO until now, I am now extremely nervous. Why would the whole entire CEO pick up the phone and ask to see me? What have I done wrong so early in the new job? 

I decide to go and ask my boss what this man could possibly want from me. I walk to his desk and as I turn the corner, I’m faced with an empty desk. “Where is the boss”, I ask his assistant. “I’m not sure” she responds. “I’ll let him know you’re looking for him when he gets back”. “Well that won’t fix my anxiety right now will it?” I think to myself.. Running out of time and not wanting to give the wrong impression, I decide to rush up to the executive floor. 

As I get there, his PA is clearly expecting me. “Please come in and take a seat” she says. “He will be with you shortly. Would you like something to drink” she asks. This question floats in my head for a few seconds as I soak in the glory of being asked if I wanted something to drink by the CEO’s PA. I quickly pull myself together and respond “yes I’ll have some tea with two sugars and milk please.” If I never get invited here again, at least I’ll always be able to say I drank the CEO’s tea. 

A few minutes later, his PA arrives with my tea and right behind her is the CEO. In between standing up to shake his hand and being handed my tea, I have a moment of being star struck and I almost spill the tea. “Amasi..” he says with a generous smile. “How are you young man?” He continues. “I’m well thank you”, I respond while shaking his hand firmly and making eye contact just as I had read I should in a book a few months earlier. We both sit down and so begins a fairly strange conversation.. 

He proceeds to ask questions about me, my career history and how I’m finding the company so far. He then asks my opinion about few a things before talking about his own career and how he landed up in this job. He concludes this part of the conversation by talking me through his thoughts on where the company is going before suddenly switching lanes... “So.. I’m told you have a plan for your area of the business” he then says out of the blue. “Uhhmmm yes I do” I respond. “Well, I’ve told you about mine, tell me about yours.” 

Caught completely off guard but now feeling fairly comfortable and obviously VERY prepared, I take full advantage of this opportunity!! I ask for a piece of paper and he stands up, grabs a marker and turns to a new page on the flip chart. “Use this he says.” I stand up and draw my understanding of the business strategy highlighting key words from his company strategy document that I had read in preparing for my vision conversation with my team. He obviously enjoys that... I then link my plan to the business strategy while drawing random blocks and arrows on the flip chart just for control... All of this from my head with no notes.

Like a good student he asks questions and like a zealous maths teacher, I answer them ALL!! The meeting eventually ends with him saying, “wow Amasi! You are definitely a rare talent and one we should keep and develop. Well done and thank you. I’ve enjoyed our conversation. I’ll ask Kate (his PA) to arrange a catch up for us every month if that’s ok with you.” 

Did he just say “if that’s ok with me?” ??

Feeling somewhat over excited by being complimented by the CEO, I hold it in, thank the assistant as I calmly walk out, shake his hand one last time and walk out of the door towards the lift. The lift door opens, I walk in, it closes and I punch the air and let out my excitement with some... “Yes Yes Yes!!”

The lift door opens 10 seconds later.. I’m still on the same floor, I have forgotten to press the destination floor button... And standing right there, on his way to his next meeting is... The CEO. Awkward!! 

Anyway... On this day, I was prepared, opportunity presented itself and I took it with both hands.. The result? 3 months into the job, I became “the guy with a plan.” This suddenly made me stand out...

Exciting right? Well so I thought, until early the next morning...