build your beautiful self

I was listening to a podcast this morning “How to be a better ceo and choose the right second in command” with Chris Harder and Cameron Herold. I pulled these gems out of their conversation and wanted to share them with you as they were very effective golden nuggets for me!

I am a true visionary. The definition of a visionary has my name right next to it. I have struggled in the past with finding my integrator for most of the reasons described in what I am going to share. Be strong and remember they are there to help you, not stifle you!

Role of the visionary:

Clearly articulate the vision
know how to get the best out individuals on the team/Culture
Biz Dev

Role of the Integrator:
Systems
Processes
Team Management

It is imperative that both stay on the same page

Visionary has to be clear on the plans

Integrator has to be clear on the vision

then you have to divide and conquer

You are meant to compliment each other. Neither person wants to do what the other person does, but both strive to make the other look good.

Things for Visionaries to remember about their relationship with the COO and how to be effective in the relationship:

COOs will ask a lot of questions. They are not being combative, they are simply trying to understand what you want and catch up with you.

They want to put systems and processes in place around what you want and as a visionary, you likely don’t want to follow them. You will have to adapt to following the processes put into place and trust them to be the best thing for your company growth

Get them to work with on you an executive summary level that way you are quick to get to the bottom line quickly (think “Squirrel” here or shiny object ready to be onto the next thing). If you want more details you can ask but as a visionary, you are better at receiving info in a summary format.

SLOW DOWN! We, as visionaries, have a million ideas and will bring them all to the COO all the time. They will intuitively know which ideas to park on the chaos controller and which projects will align with the current set of projects being worked. Also what is going to be the most effective to work on at this moment in the life of your business.

Stay aligned with the vision when you have conflicting ideas. Argue in times of conflict with one another for the right to be HEARD, not the right to be RIGHT. Argue for the sake of the business and the sake of the core values, not because one of you is better than the other.

Additional takeaways:

To build an amazing business, it has to be built “a little better than a business and a little less than a religion”

“build systems to become a cult and a culture” so that people rate it as the best company to work for and they will build the machine for and with you.

LOVE growing leaders – what do they get working with you? Build out the story and grow your people to advance into leadership roles.

Last nugget: “If you don’t have an executive assistant, you are one”