Three Years Later, Nine Key Lessons Learned

Last month I alluded to an article that I intended to publish on the third work anniversary of taking on the role of CEO of Version 1. However, the COVID-19 pandemic became my top priority, and it was more important to speak about our response to the current situation.

Like the vast majority of companies, we’ve seen an impact to the business as a result of the pandemic. However, focussing on our core priorities – our people, our customers, the strength of our organisation, and our responsibility to impact our communities positively – has helped us weather the storm together through the first stage of this crisis. Undoubtedly there is a long road to go but I’m more confident than ever that living our core values every day will get our employees and our customers through this crisis, helping us to emerge stronger on the other side, however long that takes.

Whilst the world was undoubtedly very different when I was reflecting on what I’ve learned in advance of my work anniversary, I believe the lessons that I’ve learned are still relevant today and could benefit others. In reflecting on this time I’ve picked out several lessons of importance that either surprised me or helped me to learn and grow further in my position - there are 9 - so roughly 3 for every year I've been in the post. What I’ve learned doesn’t just apply to the role of a CEO, it could be relevant to anyone taking on a new professional challenge from a leadership or management perspective, and I hope that you can take something useful away from the following lessons.

1.     The Significance of the Role

In March 2017 I took on a role for which, truthfully, no-one is ever fully prepared for. I certainly wasn’t. Reflecting back probably the first thing I learned was that the title and role of CEO carries its own weight.

For someone like me who was moving from a very hands-on operational role (COO), there is a significant change that you need to factor into your style of management and leadership. Your suggestions can be interpreted as orders – which is dangerous if they were not well thought through suggestions in the first place! You can get things done an awful lot easier than you used to, so you need to be much more careful and tactful in your interventions and suggestions. This is an adjustment I had to make through learning that in the role of CEO, the maxim of using your two ears and one mouth in that proportion is key to your success. I’m also very conscious that everything I say as a leader when I get the whole company together must be carefully thought through in advance as it impacts everyone’s objectives and approach, so I prepare for these meetings more than ever before.

2.     Surround Yourself with Smarter People

This one wasn’t hard for me, and I was (and am) very lucky to have an exceptional group of people who drive the Version 1 core values and are truly expert in their own subject areas – be that Sales, Finance, HR, Delivery or any of the many hard working departments that keep Version 1 ticking over.

The CEO’s role is as much an orchestra conductor as a composer and ensuring alignment between your team (and across the organisation) through clear communications is one of the most important parts of the role. This is definitely not something I would have fully appreciated three years ago.

3.     Make 2-3 Big Decisions Per Year

If you’re as lucky as I am to have a good team around you, then the role can really come down to being the leader and final voice on a small handful of key decisions every year. For me that has mostly related to acquisition decisions or, in some cases, it has been to drive us forward saying yes, whilst in other cases it’s being the voice of balance and knowing when to say no. Sometimes the decision relates to senior people or organisation structure. Sometimes it relates to a significant investment, like the decision we made to prioritise and focus on innovation as a key prong on our business strategy and to ensure that this focus area is driven through the organisation.

In each case, there has been people that I’ve trusted who have had an alternative view, but ultimately I’ve had to make the call.

There are always tons of reasons to say no or to keep the status quo, but successful companies keep moving forward and keep taking risks, and I’ve found my role as CEO could be seen as chief ‘risk taker’ to ensure that we continue to enable the organisation to grow. I can’t claim that I get every decision right, and I’ve certainly prevaricated a bit too long on some of them – but on the whole I think the scorecard is positive and I’m delighted with the progress that we’ve made with the four acquisitions we’ve made to date while I’ve been in the role.

4.     Leadership can be a Lonely Place 

CEO is probably the only role where you are not really part of a team in the normal sense of the word.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t camaraderie or teamwork – on the contrary I have that in spades; but for all the same reasons that I wouldn’t have invited or included the CEO in certain discussions, events or meetings when I wasn’t in the role, so too I can find myself a little excluded at times.

I’ve found a super network of other CEOs that I liaise and chat with regularly and bounce ideas off, which has been a big help to me, and I’d encourage anyone setting off on a similar journey to do likewise.

5.     Delegation is Tricky

Every CEO wants to empower and trust their team – but the buck ultimately stops with you – so how do you reconcile the two?

This is one of the hardest things I’ve found to get right. Get involved too much and you risk being intrusive, your interventions can demotivate senior people or you can leave yourself with too little time to focus on the bigger picture. On the other hand if you stay out of the loop too much, you feel you don’t have your finger on the pulse of what’s going on - misalignment can occur, you can get unpleasant surprises and people can start to wonder what you actually do all day!

I’d say it’s only now, three years in, that I’m getting the balance right between operational involvement, oversight and delegation.

I wish I could share the magic formula, but not only is every organisation different, it’s fair to say that even within the same organisation the right approach will change all the time. For example, at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, I was involved in two daily calls with my senior team to review what was happening, compared to last year when we simply had monthly get-togethers. It was a huge change despite it being largely the same group of people. So, my only advice is to try lots of things to find what works for your team. For me, on balance, I find it’s better to pull back from knowing too much rather than having to re-insert yourself into processes or meetings because you know too little. The buck after all does stop with you.

6.     Visibility is Key

You can delegate too much (as per above) or you can forget that customers and employees still want to hear from you and to see you. Again, it’s something I’ve struggled to get to the right balance on – this year I’ve gotten closest to equilibrium by making sure I have a set number of customer meetings every quarter. I also ‘drop in’ every now and again on team meetings just to listen, take questions and give updates – the last is ironically facilitated greatly by COVID-19 and everyone working from home. 

7.     Profile the Team

I’m a big believer in psychometric profiling and we use a variety of tools to do this in Version 1. It was only (to my shame) last year that I got around to doing it with my senior team and looking at the dynamics of the group, not just as individuals but as a team itself. What I found made a big difference to how I structured the senior team this year to ensure that we had the right balance of complimentary profiles to drive diversity of thought in our ideas, activities and approach.

Like most people, I can surround myself with people who are like me, but the trick is to ensure there are enough around you who aren’t.

8.     Keep Learning

If you get the delegation balance right, then you should have plenty of time to learn, think and explore new ideas. I’ve taken this on with relish and am part of the current Leadership4Growth programme via Enterprise Ireland. I’ve also benefitted hugely from a number of specific events and conferences I’ve been to.

One that stands out was in London late last year when I had the good fortune to hear talks from management gurus like Michael Porter, Gary Hamel, Simon Sinek, Steven Covey and Martin Lindstrom – I came back with a ton of ideas and things to do (much to my team’s annoyance I’m sure!).

9.     There’s No ‘Correct’ in Leadership

I have a ton of unread business books, a consequence of too much exposure to them whilst a business student I guess! My learning from the last three years is that there isn’t one ‘correct’ way to be a Leader.

Everyone has to develop their own voice, and it must be authentic to them. For me it’s a simple focus on what makes Version 1 special – core values, being a great place to work for people, delivering customer success and giving something back to the community through our Community First programme. I haven’t found any challenges or issues that couldn’t be resolved by reverting to our core values and our leadership principles. Will that be good enough for the next three years? I hope so, but time will tell.

So, there it is – not an exhaustive list, but one that I think captures my personal experience of the last three years. It’s been a hugely enjoyable time and when I think back to the younger me wondering whether I’d take the role, I’d encourage anyone in the same position to seize the opportunity. Whether ‘the opportunity’ for you is a CEO, CFO, CTO, a Head of Department, a Team Lead or simply the next step in your career, grab hold of it with both hands, and don’t regret not taking the chance.

It’s truly an honour and a privilege leading Version 1 and I hope that the next three years are as enjoyable and as successful as the first three have been.