What is a CEO paid the most money for, when all is said and done?
Is it because they’re more capable than anyone that has ever been employed by the business? Is it because they puppeteer all departments and make all of the micro-level decisions within each? Is it simply because they’ve worked hard to get to the top job, and deserve that compensation?
Not particularly, although we’re not going to suggest that a CEO isn’t skilled and capable. However, one of the main reasons that a CEO is often paid the most, despite being in the top job, is that they’re often the main ones responsible for the direction of the business. They assume most of the professional risk, and they have to implement the wider vision, keeping in mind all of the moving parts and disparate elements of an organization.
This isn’t easy to do. It requires an intense understanding of your corporate or organizational position, a willingness to take risks and to curate and sell a vision that everyone working for the brand can get behind. In a way, this isn’t necessarily too different from the position of a world leader, only on a much smaller scale, without necessary term limits, and without necessarily having such a mark on wider history.
It’s easy to overlook that essential word – “vision.” When we think of it, we might picture the manager of a sports team considering daring new training methods to win the league next season, or someone deciding on a font style and name for their startup. But vision is much more than that, and if implemented properly, will be anything but vague.
In this post then, we hope to curate a better and more focused understanding of what vision is, break it down into its constituent elements, and inspire you to develop your own. Let’s begin:
Developing A Brand Narrative
Every business has a story to tell, so the idea of a brand narrative is hardly something unique to yours. But a good CEO is able to make that narrative seem like a completely unique offering, and in some respects, any origin story can be if leveraged correctly. The real trick is making it authentic.
This can underpin everything about your marketing. Think about how Steve Jobs made the turtleneck an iconic and related fashion statement when demonstrating the wonders of technological refinement.
In this respect, a good brand narrative explains where you came from and where you’re going. More than that, it gives your team something to rally behind. The best CEOs know how to tell this story without making it sound like marketing speakl, such as discussing how they wish to honor the original founders, without necessarily promising the world. This means letting your decisions doing the talking and then relating it to the brand values you have.
If you’re unsure, focus on what matters, and make sure everyone understands why their work matters to the bigger picture.
Breaking Down A Vision Into Departmental Instructions
Of course, a CEO can navel-gaze with big ideas and visionary thinking all day, but that makes no difference if it can’t be implemented in an understandable, effective, and heartfelt manner.
As such, smart CEOs know how to take their overall vision and turn it into specific tasks for each department lead, alongside the other executives that work with them. For example, marketing needs to know how to talk about it. Product teams need to know how to build it. Customer service needs to know how to support it.
The CEO’s job is making sure these pieces fit together and that everyone understands their part in making the vision real. But how does that work in practice? Well, for example, you might compound two distinct narratives in this year’s marketing effort.
You may have a new product to launch aimed at a specific demographic, and alongside this, you want to recommit to your environmental strategy and bake this into how your brand is received. Then you’ll always have a focus to return to, a principle for your creatives to think about, and a distinct set of steps that rise from such an endeavor.
The Integration Of New Workflows
Change is very difficult, especially when it comes to how people work, and especially when systematic processes have been baked into your business for quite some time. Imagine if a new CEO came in and wanted to reformat how the entire Subway sandwich ordering process worked? It could be done, but it would take time, justification, and a big rebranding strategy to work.
As such, good CEOs know that new systems and processes need time to stick. They introduce changes gradually, get feedback from their teams, and adjust as needed. They also make sure new workflows actually make sense and help people do their jobs better, rather than just adding extra steps for the sake of it. For example, selling the OCR SDK framework for easy document conversion can show your team how quickly and effectively you can digitize documentation or automotive invoices. You’ll showcase results and an effective metric that keeps you on the right track.
Branding, Evolving Over Time
Brands need to grow and change, but they shouldn’t lose what makes them special, and that’s easier said than done. Think about how firms like Bentley took their engineering know-how and expanded into curating jet engines, and yet still refined their flagship products over time.
As such, the best CEOs guide this evolution carefully and always use the preceding years as lessons. This allows them to keep what works, update what doesn’t, and make sure changes make sense for where the market is going. They use buyer predictions and market research to better understand where it will be in five years, and try to pre-empt that market. It’s a hard task, but one informed by data, th practices of which they must integrate correctly.
Selling The Public & Staff On Your Progress
Results matter, but so does how you talk about them and sell them, because they have to be worked for. In other words, you have to make the results seem tangible and obvious before people begin, otherwise the motivation might not be there.
Good CEOs know how to share wins without bragging and address setbacks honestly, ensuring that the credit is always there for those who did the work, but staff feel defended if something goes wrong. As such, they keep their team informed about what’s working and what isn’t. They’re also good at explaining changes to customers in ways that make sense and build trust, such as discussing why a slight new inconvenience to the sales process could make such a helpful impact on the environment.
Solidifying & Embodying Brand Priorities & Values
The best CEOs live their company’s values and make sure they show up in daily decisions. Even how you dress has an impact, but CEO’s are often see as the firm, and so it’s important to keep that mindset in everything you do.
But in order to the brand priorities and values to be embodied, they have to be repeatedly communicated. Maybe you’re running a business and aim to have the best possible customer service available in your field. As such, you may make a show of the new AI tools you’re using, the staff you’re hiring, and how to streamline your support process to empower those who work on it.
Embodying brand priorities in this way is somethin your internal teams see, step by step. If you’re present and communicative with all levels of the company, they also stop feeling as though such priorities are being assigned from on-high, and are instead more interested in listening to you.
Learning To Appoint Effective, Unified Leaders Within The Business
The truth is that no leader is going to have ultimate control, and that’s a good thing. It’s because humans are fallible, even someone with a thousand years of business expeirence (should that be possible), can still make decisions from bias, or lead with emotion, or try to offset mistakes made by making yet more poorly-thought-through mistakes.
As such, leadership isn’t just about the CEO. This means effective CEOs build strong leadership teams that work well together, and most of all, will never feel inclined to act like yes-men. They pick people who share the vision but bring their own skills and ideas, and especially a novel perspective. It could be said that who you appoint (to the degree you have control over this), can make a huge difference to how effective certain departments are, and how your initiatives are carefully extrapolated upon.
Recalibrating Business Priorities Alongside Market Conditions
Markets change, and businesses need to change with them. It’s not just that you’re competing with most other firms in your industry, but as we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, often you’re doing so with unexpected market fluctuations that you simply cannot predict, but must adapt to.
The better leaders keep a close eye on what’s happening in their industry and adjust plans when needed. They know when to stick to their guns and when to try something new, sometimes even taking the tough decisions such as downsizing or suspending vital income streams due to lack of capacity, while working on something new. This flexibility helps companies stay relevant and competitive, and ultimately survive over time.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to integrate a better business vision going forward, but also know how to implement that on a practical level.
