“The best CEOs aren’t necessarily the world’s number one at direction setting, aligning the organization, mobilizing leaders, engaging the board, connecting with stakeholders, or maligning personal effectiveness, but they’re world-class at integrating all of these responsibilities simultaneously.”
These words come from McKinsey & Company senior partners Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra’s new book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. Their organization recently pooled over 2,400 public company chief executives and discovered the common behaviors of the world’s most successful CEOs.
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest is the culmination of their findings and is the finest leadership book I have read in the past 18 months. You can get your copy by clicking HERE or on the image provided.
To give you a preview of what you can expect, the following are 63 actual quotes from the book and give you a picture of what a great CEO does on a day-to-day basis.
- “The best CEOs… create significant value on a sustained basis year after year during their tenures.”
- “The best CEOs are excellent in a few areas, and do a solid if not exemplary job in the others.”
- “The best CEOs.. embrace uncertainty with a view that fortune favors the bold.”
- “The best CEOs build their vision by looking for where various aspects of their business and the market intersect.”
- “The best CEOs often dig into a company’s history to find out what originally made it successful, and then take that central idea and expand it in ways that open up new opportunities.”
- “The best CEOs used the terms vision, mission, and company purpose as largely interchangeable… don’t worry much about the distinctions – what matters for them is to have a clear and simply articulated North Star for the company that redefines success, influences decisions, and inspires people to act in desired ways.”
- “The best CEOs apply a mindset of boldness, resulting in a vision that looks beyond winning the game to reframing it.”
- “The best CEOs boldly make big strategic moves early and often during their tenure.”
- “The best CEOs execute at least one (M&A) deal per year on average, and over a ten-year period these deals cumulatively amount to more Thant 30 percent of the a company’s market cap.”
- “The best CEOs improve their business models and create pricing advantages in ways that are big enough to change a company’s trajectory.”
- “The best CEOs show courage to act in the face of uncertainty.”
- “The best CEOs are only willing to venture into uncharted waters – they’re also willing to boldly stay the course on stormy seas.”
- “The best CEOs hardwire their view of the future into the company’s strategic planning.”
- “The best CEOs avoid the downside by forming some rules of thumb based on pattern recognition.”
- “The best CEOs know, in the spirit of hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky’s observation, ‘You miss every shot that you don’t take,’ that the bigger risk is to be timid in the face of uncertainty.”
- “The best CEOs use performance milestones.”
- “As long as the big moves still make sense, the milestones are being met, the actions taken are delivering results for the company, the best CEOs stay the course.”
- “The best CEOs invariably dwell on the elements that will make the biggest difference and encapsulate those in a pithy word or phrase that they consistently invoke.”
- “The best CEOs look for any opportunity to act as a role model in a ‘for things to change I must change’ manner.”
- “The best CEOs are willing to take meaningful actions, often in the face of resistance, that signal just how serious they are about culture change.”
- “The best CEOs home in on ‘one thing’ culturally that will make the biggest difference to business performance.”
- “The best CEOs found ways to build flexibility into the organization’s design while maintaining strong structural integrity.”
- “The best CEOs rarely make radical swings from one extreme to the other.”
- “The best CEOs are relentless in clarifying where ultimate accountability rests.”
- “The best CEOs know that building a great organization doesn’t start with people but, instead, with roles. They first ask themselves what the most important jobs are and define the knowledge, skills, attributes, and experiences needed to get those jobs done.”
- “The best CEOs make sure that the most valuable roles are well defined, with a clear description of what work needs to get done and a list of the necessary skills and attributes to succeed.”
- “The best CEOs put a much more analytic lens on who does what in the organization.”
- “The best CEOs also become involved in succession planning for key roles.:
- “The best CEOs carefully compose their top team.”
- “The best CEOs, in the words of Dupont’s Ed Breen, ‘Grade behaviors first – and after that, grade results.'”
- “The best CEOs are unequivocal on this issue… everyone is expected to put the company’s needs ahead of those of the business unit’s or function’s.”
- “The best CEOs proactively shape the operating rhythm of their team to drive the company’s strategy forward.”
- “The best CEOs also play the role of an orchestra conductor amid the day-to-day operating rhythm of the company.”
- “The best CEOs make the rounds of all board members once or twice a year.”
- “The best CEOs always keep a sober perspective on the of the relationship (with individual board members).”
- “The best CEOs spend real time coaching their people to succeed in front of the board.”
- “The best CEOs proactively work to ensure their boards collectively have the knowledge and judgment to help their corporations flourish.”
- “The best CEOs work with their boards to defuse tensions at the outset.”
- “The best CEOs ensure that time spent in the boardroom doesn’t become consumed with ‘the board being a policeman on top of the business.'”
- “The best CEOs ensure the rest of the board agenda includes forward-looking topics in addition to fiduciary ones.”
- “The best CEOs start with the question of ‘why?'”.
- “The best CEOs have a similarly clear and compelling articulation of why their company exists and how it adds value to society.”
- “The best CEOs embed their social purpose into the core operation of the businesses, thereby minimizing the tension between the two.”
- “The best CEOs welcome scrutiny because they know that purpose is reflected in their company’s soul.”
- “The best CEOs don’t confuse their personal passions for their company’s principles.”
- “The best CEOs use their platform to speak out and make a stand when situations demand it.”
- “The best CEOs travel whenever, wherever, and do whatever is necessary to support the business.”
- “The best CEOs typically spend time with their company’s fifteen to twenty-five most important investors and assign the rest to the CFO and their investor relations department.”
- “The best CEOs optimize their schedules to make every minute count.”
- “The best CEOs have a further objective, which cuts across all of their stakeholder interactions: to harvest new ideas that can make the business better.”
- “The best CEOs adhere to the old proverb: ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.'”
- “The best CEOs help their organizations avoid short-term solutions that will be damaging in the long run.”
- “The best CEOs also find ways to maintain a view from the balcony so they can see patterns, find hope on the horizon, and look for opportunities.”
- “The best CEOs are extremely structured about how they use their time.”
- “The best CEOs also proactively protect vacation time.”
- “The best CEOs are aware of what generates and what depletes their energy, and work hard to avoid energy troughs.”
- “The best CEO’s personal team always includes a talented, dedicated administrative assistant, if not two, who manages the calendar and logistics for travel and events.”
- “The best CEOs are keenly aware of the difference between being and doing.”
- “The best CEOs don’t leave it to chance that they’ll get the input they need.”
- “The best CEOs proactively take steps during their tenure to maintain a humble perspective.”
- “The best CEOs aren’t necessarily the world’s number one at direction setting, aligning the organization, mobilizing leaders, engaging the board, connecting with stakeholders, or maligning personal effectiveness, but they’re world-class at integrating all of these responsibilities simultaneously.”
- “The best CEOs orchestrate a seamless transition (to their successor).”
- “The best CEOs keep taking on ever more challenging terrain, upgrading their equipment, and striving to become the best they can be.”
The best part of CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest is the authors unpack and give context to each of these 63 behaviors. It is a must-read book. Click HERE to order your copy today!
The Top 75 Leadership Quotes From 2021 Part 2 is my latest ebook. For many entering a post-pandemic environment, leadership looks completely different than the pre-pandemic world. People are more broken now. They are more uncertain. Fear and anxiousness are unwelcome constant companions. Cultures are more unhealthy. Relationships are more dysfunctional. Hope seems to be in short supply. Every day seems to bring a new hacking, natural disaster, or unexpected calamity.
Therefore, the fundamentals of leadership are more important than ever. The quotes in this book deal with the basics of leadership. If you want to be the best leader you can possibly be, click HERE or on the image provided to download this FREE resource. The lessons learned from last year, if applied, will sustain you for years to come.