Being in operations, I’m usually the right-hand-man for the CEO (and CFO), and have worked with some fantastic ones and a few who should have let someone else pilot the company. Not everyone is cut out to be a CEO and nowhere is this as evident and crucial as in startups. A good CEO can take the company anywhere he/she dreams it to go.
As I search for a head of operations position and talk to employees and founders of startups, one of the key phrase I am listening for is “my CEO [insert the rest of the sentence]”. That is what I want to hear. Yes, many will say “our CEO”, but there is a difference when someone adds emotion to their alliance and proclaims he works for his/her CEO.
So what is the difference? If I hear someone refer to their CEO as “my CEO”, I can ascertain people on his/her team will walk through fire for the company. Passionate trust in the leadership of a company builds resilient startups.
Here’s my table of the most common reasons people may call the head of the company “my CEO” versus “our CEO”:
My CEO… | Our CEO… |
| Introduces him/her self by name | The first words out of his/her mouth “I’m the CEO…” |
| Puts his team above him(her)self | Will cut everyone’s comp before his/her own |
| Will never ask to do anything he/she would not do | Well… boss is the Grand Pubah |
| Commitment before ego | Contemporary Napoleon |
| Leads from the front lines | Likes his/her office |
| Is the ultimate sales person for the company | Will only meet a customer only if hell breaks loose |
| Is the first one in the office, last one to shut the lights | Probably on the golf course 3X per week |
| Team members are very protective about him/her | “CEO gets paid big $, he/she should take the blame” |
| Employees can’t wait to be back at work tomorrow | People leave the company for $1K more in salary |
| Needs more in-house recruiters to handle the candidate volume | Needs to advertise heavily and offer unsustainable compensation to convince people to join |
I want to hear what makes you proud of your CEO.
Photo credit: Mark Kobayashi-Hillary
Note: statue in the photo is of one of the greatest dukes Lithuania ever had – Gediminas. This statue is located in Katedra square, Vilnius – Lithuania.
Apolinaras is a business operations leader with 12-year track record of building scalable and capital-efficient operations for technology and professional services companies.