What it's like telling a CEO what to do

Stephanie Christopher, chief executive officer of The Executive Connection. Photo / Supplied

They make a living out of being the smartest people in the room and bossing others around, so how do you tell a CEO what to do?

It's a problem that Stephanie Christopher deals with constantly as the chief executive officer of CEO mentoring and support organisation The Executive Connection.

"Some people don't like a mirror being held up to them," Ms Christopher told news.com.au. And taking criticism is especially difficult when you're used to being in charge.

"One of the interesting challenges for a CEO is they feel they have to all the answers, to be in charge," she said.

But Ms Christopher said it was important for any leader to be vulnerable if they wanted to succeed. She helps CEOs to open up by creating a situation where they feel comfortable to talk openly.

Confidential groups of CEOs are brought together from different sized businesses and across different industries so there are no direct competitors involved in the discussions.

These frank conversations help CEOs to identify their own faults, and get feedback from other CEOs.

"Especially when you are young and climbing quickly through the ranks, you can be focused on one area and developing a skill set around that area," she said.

"CEOs are obviously smart to get where they are but they need a diversity of opinions from peers beyond their regular network."

Ms Christopher also said it was important to get a mentor who would "hold your feet to the fire".

While the board of directors does hold CEOs accountable to an extent, it usually only hears about decisions once they've already been made. A mentor also has the ability to pull a CEO up and remind them of the personal goals they've set.

"They can also give you a searing insight into yourself that others might be scared to do, and they can help you find your blind spot too."

Being willing to face criticism and address it is one of the key skills to climbing the corporate ladder, even when you are already at the top.

Aaron McEwan has a masters in coaching psychology and he said the era of the "hero" CEO is quickly coming to an end.

"The problems we face are too big and complex for any one person to have all the answers to," he said.

Mr McEwan has coached CEOs for more than 15 years and is currently working at CEB. He said highly volatile outcomes like Brexit and Donald Trump's election win were becoming normal, and not the exception.

Combine this with disruption coming from competitors through technology like Uber and self driving cars, this has made being a CEO much more complex and challenging than it used to be.

"The smart CEOs recognise they are simply not equipped to deal with all that complexity on their own," he said.

"They build teams around them that are cohesive, open to ideas and solutions that they may not have considered. They are open to accepting that other people around them may hold the answers."

He said it was easy to think that CEOs had egos but he really enjoyed working with them.
"The reality is they are really smart people with the experience and capability to see the big picture and connect the dots," he said.

Ideas of good leadership have also changed in the past five to 10 years.

"The traditional authoritarian approach of making a decision and forcing it down the chain is just incredibly ineffective."

Mr McEwan said results from one of the largest leadership studies ever undertaken found good CEOs were those who could get senior leaders in their organisations to start working together, rather than focusing on meeting their own targets. This could lift profit and revenue by 12 per cent.

"What really good leaders are good at, is crowdsourcing the solutions to their problems," he said.

"It's really about empowerment of the organisation and this drives innovation, creativity and is more suited to our highly interconnected and complex environment."