Becoming the (True) CEO of Your Business

By Darren Hardy

For your business to perform well, your people have to perform well.
For your people to perform well, they have to feel well.

The critical factor determining the health, vigor and future of your company is the health, vigor and emotional state of the people in your company or on your team. Period.

As the leader, you are the CEO of your team: the Chief Emotional Officer. And that is your key role as the leader.

So to be a better CEO, let me suggest a three-step action plan to help point you in the right direction.

Number ONE—Identify.

Identify the CURRENT emotional state of your team.

In an interview with corporate change agent Roxanne Emmerich, she suggested to start by listening to the conversations of your team. Are they more focused on constraints, complaints and why something can’t be done or what’s wrong… or is their conversation hopeful, inspired, excited, supportive, encouraging of others and ambitious?

Get a read on your team and rate the current emotional state on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best.

Now, Number TWO—Redirect.

Start redirecting the conversation by asking great questions.

Chairman of Joie de Vivre (owner of 30 hotels) Chip Conley said to me, “Managers try to find answers, but leaders ask great questions.” Redirect the conversation through a series of questions and then LISTEN. As Chip said, the higher you go up in an organization the better listener you become. Put more directly, the more you listen the higher up in the organization you will go.

Ask smart and positively leading questions of your team and listen.

And Finally, Number THREE—Lead.

Be the example.

You didn’t think for a second that you wouldn’t have to do the hard work yourself, did you? As the leader you are always the one who has to do first what you want done, or be what you want others to become. As Chip put it, “You need to understand the ‘ripple effect’ in your company and be mindful of your actions. You are the emotional thermostat for the group you lead.”

So write down the emotional state you want your team to be in. Make a list. Is it “positive, excited, inspired, courageous, hopeful, confident”? Whatever—make your list. Then rateyourself on each emotion. On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your emotional state with each of your desired emotions and how well have you been displaying and modeling those emotions to your team? Go ahead, rate yourself. You might discover WHY your team feels the way they do… they have been mirroring, responding or reacting to your attitudes.

Now, decide how you will increase your rating with each emotion to get as close to a 10 as possible, and ways you can demonstrate those emotions to your team.

Imagine for a moment if your team possessed all the emotions you wrote down… think how unstoppable you’d all be! Think of the difference you could make in the world by bringing your valuable service to the marketplace. That’s what I want for you… that’s what I want in results for the world because of it.

So I encourage you to go through this process. It most certainly could be transformational—for you, for everyone on your team and everyone you will all touch together.

I’d love to hear how it goes; please let me know.