Start your journey to become a C Suite Executive

Are you feeling the calling or the desire to become a C-Suite executive?

?And you're wondering exactly how do I make that a reality or a possibility in my career path?

?Are you an entrepreneur who does not know how to carry yourself as C-Suite while your organization is growing?

?Well, if that's something that you're wondering, keep in mind that the C-suite executives, are the highest-ranking executives in a company or in a business. They are responsible for the strategic direction of the business and where things are going.

?Ever since, I became Independent Director 2 years ago, I started my journey. You never know when calling comes! ??

?I have been working in manufacturing Industry (Healthcare, Mobiles, Electronics, Energy and Metals) for close to three decades now. I know many colleagues, who would like to also make this transition. Also, there are many start-up entrepreneurs whom I work with aspire to be effective C-suite leader. Some of them are on exponential growth trajectories. Mostly they do not know where to start. I know it’s not easy but it’s their right to know about the journey to become a C-suite Executive.

?Hence, Idea came to my mind to share in few steps, some proven strategies which I have observed/working with many CXOs, start-ups entrepreneurs and from my personal experience. This may help make your goal a possibility for you in your future.

?So, let's dive in. If you're somebody who is a high potential manager right now, or Maybe you're in the director position and you're saying, well, it's still quite far away, it feels like I still have a couple more ranks to go and it is not in my immediate future or my near-term future, then the time is right now. Whether or not you are a manager or director, and there's a few more steps to go. Keep in mind that if you want to become a C-suite executive, the time starts right now for you to already be positioning yourself that way.

?It takes time to develop that skillset, the vocabulary and the mindset as well.

?Just start preparing right now!

?So what I am going to be sharing with you are five steps.

?Step 1 : FORESIGHT: “Ability to think and plan for the future”

?Foresight is very different from insight. You have insight so that you can give foresight, but it doesn't look the other way around. Foresight is when you are taking the action based on understanding of what will be needed in the future.

-What could possibly happen in the future?

?-In the future, which direction will we be going?

-What can we do to give ourselves the advantage or leverage?

-What resources we have to make the future the way that we would like it to be?

?These are some examples of foresight.

?The whole thing about foresight is the ability to think and plan for the future.

?And this is why it's important because as a C-suite executive, you are the highest-ranking executive and they're turning towards you as a leadership team to be able to plan for the strategic direction of the whole business.

?When it comes to developing foresight, one of the most important things is to be able to think and speak. Thinking and communicating as strategically and principles based.

?As an individual contributor and earlier on in our career paths, even mid senior level, manager or below that job level, we're so used to being the implementer.

?We are hired in the business to be able to do our domain work well. Therefore, we carry out our technical expertise. The expertise that you were trained for, either in college or through certification programs and so on.

?You are expert in carrying out your tasks, to be able to meet deadlines and KPIs with your execution skills. You may be process driven and results are coming using various tools in the process.

?At the executive level, at the highest level it's not going to be about processes or tasks that you do because that's the execution or at implementation level,

?But, It is going to be about “what is the vision or strategy?”

?This is different because you're operating on the technical level, that is very tactical, which has only so much influence. It only goes so far.

?We need to have strategies to understand where and when to apply the tactics, but more importantly, we need to understand the principles so that we can know which strategies are going to work.

?If you are to be thinking and acting strategically and principles based in the future, that's what gives you foresight. Start to develop this skill set now. It’s myth that it is soft skill, but it is not soft after all.

?Step 2: Vett and then take Thoughtful Actions

Let's face it, when you're in the C-suite, your actions are not just going to affect your own mission, career path, but also affect everyone in the organization at all the levels of management beneath you.

?It's going to create opportunities for people, elevate morale and drive motivation.

?Your actions, when they're thoughtful, they are absorbed well and increase communication among and between teams.

?As C-suite, you are in one of the most vulnerable positions in the entire business. The reason why is because everyone's looking towards you. All the departments, functional groups, teams beneath are going to be turning towards you and looking towards you because they are going to be observing what you're doing, saying, showing up, carrying yourself and decisions. Because your decisions are going to affect them.

?You are at the senior most layer and level of leadership in the business. That's why being C-suite is one of the most vulnerable positions. And it's even more important for you to have a bias towards thoughtful action.

?Start practice of thoughtful action because at this level, the highest level in the business, you're not going to be told what to do anymore. While throughout our career paths, we ?are used to being told what to do. Like this is the project you are managing or this the deadline, or KPIs etc.

?You're no longer going to be an order taker.

In fact, you're going to have to be guiding others, coaching them towards success and they're gonna be observing you whether or not you realize it, whether or not you are directly coaching them towards success.

?Step 3: Catalyst Leadership

Catalyst leadership is key because that is what creates an environment for high performance, high productivity and high profitability.

?When it comes to creating these conditions, the environment should be inclusive. There should be enough wriggle room for your N-1. They should feel empowered and intrinsically motivated. Remember one person and just one person who has not understood your mission or not onboarded can result in 80% less productivity.?

And being able to communicate mission effectively is important for C-Suite because your management layers all beneath you need to understand what are we working towards. ?

?-Communication is clear including Mission

-There is mutual respect, trust, alignment and delegation. ?

-Clarity on accountability and monitoring progress

-Change management is effective and absorbed with lot of porosity

-Risk management is in place with blind spots are identified and mitigated

?Being able to communicate mission effectively is important for C-Suite because your N-1, N-2 and all beneath layers need to understand what are they working towards.

Let's face it, market place whether business or industry, there's change that is constant. Change is with respect to new competitors coming in, there are changes in the orientation, customer habits, changes in the economy as well.

?How you can you communicate in a way that we can better manage that change?

Some examples of communication could be with respects to

-How we are going to onboard stakeholders and build relationships with them?

-Which vendors are we going to be partnered with?

-Who do we need to hire and how do we need to structure our organization?

-Where do we need to optimize our processes? etc

Again, the key is to start now proactively. Because you are going see this if you are a manager right now or a beginning director making that transition sooner or later. Also your responsibilities will force you as you go up in leadership, they are going to be more and more reliant on your ability to effectively communicate.

Step 4: Decision making

In a business, there are hundreds of decisions that go on every single week when it comes to decision, it's important that your decisions are taking into consideration the data at hand and being able to take into consideration the risk involved. So when making decisions as an executive, it's important to be able to exude three things.

1.?Be confident

while making that decision. When you exude confidence, that's when people trust that you have the best interest on the matter at hand. You know how to make that decision and you know what you are talking about. You project yourself as confident leader who is calm and powerful.

2.?Be Objective,

Now, when you exude objectivity, this is when you are most authentic. That's when they know that you're not driven by emotions, you're not driven by impulsive instincts. But you are driven by data or by understanding what the vision is.

3.?Demonstrate Stability

When you exude that level of stability in decision making, it gives confidence to your audience, which is your direct staff and their N-1, and teams down the line, that they are implementing an "Executive Decision". That is when they have a certainty about you. You give them a level of predictability of what is going to come next. And they can feel calm and rested in your presence and especially under your leadership.

?When you exude these three things, confidence, objectivity, and stability in your decision making, that's when you can elevate your leadership onto the C-suite executive level.

And once again, you may start now.

You may be the kind of person where you realize that in my career?right now as a manager, there are not very many decisions I am involved in. Or you might be thinking there are not many meetings that have decisions on executive direction and I am not part of those meetings. But make no mistake about it, no matter your job level right now in management or in directorship, there are decisions you are making or driving some transformation. These are your opportunities to exude these qualities.

?Step 5: Control your Emotions.

That's the last one. Emotional governance is the path towards mastering yourself.

This means you have control over your emotions. Your emotions do not control you. ?

The anxieties, the fears, the concerns, right?

?The anger, maybe sometimes frustrations.

?It doesn't mean you don't feel the emotions, it just means you have governance over them.

?There was a raging debate on social media few days back over an IPL team owner having very animated conversation with team captain post defeat. Whether public display was justified or a board room feedback could be right way.

?Let's face it, there's a lot of volatility in business as, especially in the economy. Fluctuations that go up and down. Sometimes projects don't go the right way. Sometimes profitability goes up and down as well. And with all of that volatility, sometimes the emotions can be equally as volatile.

?And make no mistake about it, when you show up and you are self-governed, you are manager of your own emotions. You have that level of reflective self-awareness, where in you can come across confident or objective or exude stability too.

?When it comes to emotional governance, it's important that every decision you make, every conversation that you have, that you have your control over your emotions, it doesn't mean that you don't feel them.

Conclusion

Idea of this article is to let all aspirants know of their latent strengths and to be more self-aware while they start C-suite journey.

?Finally, whatever phase of your journey is from manager to director or VP to C-suite, CXO or Board member. I wish you well!

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