Savvy's Resolute Adventures

Savvy Speaks to CEOs: Savvy Steps to Become an Effective CEO

1. Hone life skill of 'learning how to learn'.
   Plug away with on the job training. Seek life - long learning.
   
   
2. Seek mentorship from those who want to see you grow.
   Find opportunities to watch CEOs in action.
   
   
3. No one is prepared to be CEO:  have to be CEO to be prepared to be CEO.
   Make your own luck & say yes when CEO opportunity knocks.
   

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Savvy Traits of Effective CEOs

1. Focus toward long term while balancing short term priorities:
   Know where big rocks are - think big about your opportunity.
   While execution is key, don't get lost in tactics.
   
2. Set culture & espouse vision for company:
   The only way to predict the future is to invent it.
   
3. Make sure organization does not suffer from what CEO does not do well.
   Know your blind spots and hire to compensate.
4. Set direction & then empower others to run with it:
   Instill confidence and courage  in executive team.
   
5. Harness creativity from staff:
   Design positions that motivate enthusiasm & then effectively hire those who are additive to the team.
   
6. Retain genuine enthusiasm for customer and strong customer focus:
   Turn organizational chart upside down with the customer at the top.
   
7. Embrace failure & focus on learning new things:
   Be intellectually curious and ask good questions.
   
8. Communicate clearly & concisely to external constituencies:
   With heart and passion.
   
9. Leverage board of directors to help you think into the future of the business.
   
   
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Savvy Speaks to CEOs: Where do successful CEOs focus?

Editor's note: In working with CEOs, some of whom are also founders, executives whose next step is to be CEO, as well as with young people who desire to  found a company some day, Ueng has accumulated learnings of steps it takes to become an effective CEO and traits of effective CEOs. She recently interviewed noted Triangle CEOs to share their wisdom for Work & Money readers.

Where do successful CEOs focus? 

Frey suggests "judging talent, being able to judge how individuals will relate to teams that you are building." 

Whitehurst agrees that when hiring he looks for those that "complement the existing team".  He rarely hires for direct skills in that position.  Instead, he looks for credibility and different perspectives to make the team stronger.  He would rather have a really good team than strong individuals.   He looks for those who possess innate curiosity.

"Have a strong strategic view that can sustain through short term challenges," Frey concludes when describing skills important for a CEO.

Replogle states that he focuses on 3 things.  He states as #1: like Frey, of setting right strategy and ensuring the organization is aligned to make right tradeoffs between resources and investment.  #2:  He believes that he must develop the right talent and build the right team along with performance management systems and continue to nurture and develop the Burt's Bees culture that had been developed long before his arrival.  This was similar to Whitehurt's comments, since the Red Hat culture was very mature and profound when he joined.  #3: Ensuring that he and his team execute and operate against annual plan.

Replogle explained that the culture at Burt's Bees was more important than any other place he had worked, that it was very important for him to retain it.

Frey goes further to state that CEOs must understand everything you do contributes to the culture you are running.  "Culture of the company determines its fate.  A lot of people don't realize how important small things are and how they contribute to the culture."

www.resoluteventures.com

Savvy Speaks to CEOs: When did they realize they wanted to be a CEO?

Editor's note: In working with CEOs, some of whom are also founders, executives whose next step is to be CEO, as well as with young people who desire to  found a company some day, Ueng has accumulated learnings of steps it takes to become an effective CEO and traits of effective CEOs. She recently interviewed noted Triangle CEOs to share their wisdom for Work & Money readers.

When did they realize they wanted to be a CEO?

John Replogle, the CEO of Burt's Bees, a leader in all natural personal care products located in Durham, shared that while he was at Harvard Business School  at age 25, he set what he considered a stretch and ambitious goal: to be CEO by 40. He attributes his success at reaching this goal to working for absolutely great people "who  mentor, grow, and challenge you."  He believes that he has been "incredibly blessed". 

"I never really thought about it," said Jim Whitehurst, who overlapped with Replogle at business school.  He joined Red Hat, Raleigh headquartered open source technology solutions provider, as CEO in 2008.  

After receiving his undergraduate degree in computer science, he decided he wanted to explore the business side.   He went into his interviews with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading global advisor on business strategy, not even knowing what consulting and case study interviews were. His belief is "do what you love to do and the right things will happen."   Jim was one of the youngest ever to be named partner at BCG at just 32 years old.

There, his largest client was Delta where he joined as acting treasurer at noon on September 11.  He took on the role of COO just six weeks before the airline filed for bankruptcy, then led the airline through its bankruptcy and restructuring.

With that experience under his belt, Whitehurst become sought-after  for turnaround CEO roles, the least upbeat of scenarios to lead.  So when the call to lead Red Hat came, he saw as a very positive opportunity, and as a bonus, fitting with his early interest in computer science.

Bob Young, the founder of Red Hat, on the other hand, doesn't consider himself a CEO, rather an entrepreneur "who ends up as CEO, a title that comes with the job".  He explained that he comes from a long line of entrepreneurs who possess the same "genetic flaw".  "I can't do what anyone tells me to do, so I started a business in order to create a job that I could fill". 

He prefers the title "Coffee Mug Washer" inscribed on his office nameplate at Lulu, which he founded in 2002 and continues to serve as CEO. Young spends his time worrying about the health of the business several years out.  He spends most of his days distracting his staff to gaze and guess several years out into the future.  He feels that he is reducing the productivity of individuals who are there to serve the customer that day,  for instance, by answering a certain number of customer inquiries within a day.  So in order to assure that he has added tangible value, Young is sure to go to the break room and wash the dishes before he leaves each day he is in the office.

Kip Frey served as CEO of Accipiter, OpenSite, and now Zenph Studios, after tenure as partner at Intersouth, North Carolina's  largest venture capital fund.  He shared that his career goal was always to run a movie studio and graduated from the acclaimed School of Cinematic Arts  at the University of Southern California.  He said becoming a CEO was "an opportunity that found me rather than the other way around". 

 

Savvy Speaks to CEOs: How to Best Prep?

Editors' Note:
In working with CEOs, some of whom are also founders, executives whose next step is to be CEO, as well as with young people who desire to  found a company some day, Ueng has accumulated learnings of steps it takes to become an effective CEO and traits of effective CEOs. She recently interviewed noted Triangle CEOs to share their wisdom for Work & Money readers.

After graduating from Duke Law School, Frey went on to advise clients where he had the opportunity to work closely with dozens of CEOs and see them " in action and under pressure".  He realized that decisions that needed to be made in a legal context are derived from a larger strategic plan.

Frey's advice to those who want to become a CEO is that certainly one can do the traditional things like "reading books about management and getting an MBA". Equally important is "finding ways to interact with the person who has that responsibility and watch everything they do - how they act at dinner, how they deal with everything they do ...how they present themselves and communicate.  The more opportunities one has to be an observer, the richer the wellspring of resources will be."

Whitehurst, who overlapped with Replogle at both Harvard Business School and the Boston Consulting Group, an internationally renowned strategic consultancy,  smiled and said that while skill is required, "a lot of luck - being at the right place at the right time" is also part of the equation. 

He encourages those aspiring to be CEO to make your own luck: Excel in what you are doing and do work that you love so you will inspire people.  Do look around for opportunities.  Ensure that you are the needle in the haystack that sticks out just a bit more so will be grabbed. Work on cross - functional  projects - know everything about your business, not just your function. 

This is what he did at Delta where he rose to COO.  He believes that intellectual curiosity and visibility are key contributors that have made him successful.