It’s the loneliest job in the company.
I hear from new CEOs all the time how isolating the chief executive role feels. Once you get to the CEO chair, it just feels different. There’s no boss to take your questions to. If you need counsel or a friendly ear, you have to find it outside the traditional company structure.
I once interviewed a former COO of Delta who had 80,000 people reporting up to him at the airline. He later left to become CEO of a 2,000-person software company. He admitted to thinking what many people think: If you’ve been an executive at a big corporation, doing the CEO job at a smaller company should be a breeze.
But like so many rising leaders, he soon learned that the CEO job is inherently different from all other C-suite roles. He found himself looking around for support like he’d had from his CEO at Delta . . . only to realize he was now that guy.
And while prepping for his first board meeting at the software company, he asked his team, “Who prepares the board decks?” Everyone looked at each other until one person finally said, “That would be you.”
The good news is that there are methods for smart CEOs to get the support they need. That might be someone wise to talk through a big decision with, or just someone who can capably prep the board decks.
Stay tuned next week for an announcement from me regarding a solution in this area. CEOs will always hold ultimate responsibility for the direction and performance of the organization; that’s the nature of the role. But it doesn’t mean they can’t find support that makes them notably more effective—and a bit less lonely.
—Joel