Great CEOs Let Others Serve

Most CEOs don’t struggle with taking charge. They struggle with letting go.

As I wrote about recently, the majority of CEOs are Dominance types in DISC terms. They are wired to act, decide, push forward. That drive may be what got them the job in the first place. But it can also become a trap.

A dominant CEO might think they are serving their organization by tirelessly working to move things forward. But in reality, they’d often get far better results by stepping back and letting their employees serve the organization.

This is a dynamic found in many areas of life. Straining, pushing, striving for control—it feels like you’re working hard for the outcome you want. But paradoxically, sometimes that outcome is best achieved by stepping back and letting go. (See: Alan Watts’ Backwards Law.)

In the CEO context, this means letting other people take meaningful ownership within the organization. That’s really hard for high-D types. It’s not easy for them to let others do things for them. They …