CEO Advice: 5 Strategies to Stay One Step Ahead of Your Team

Get a good CEO coach to keep you at the top of the heap. 
A good CEO coach will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of a CEO and identify simple, easy exercises that won’t take much time. They’ll help you stay connected with workers, keep you humble, and increase your learning while becoming more successful.

Take the time and space to practice these directives. 
Set aside five to 10 minutes daily to developing as a leader and human being. This will be the time you reflect and gain clarity. Schedule the time if necessary. Just make sure you do what’s right for your growth.

Stay connected with “the little people.”
 Cultivate an attitude of respect — your respect for them. The “little people” are the ones turning your vision into reality. Meditate on this for a few minutes and ask yourself if you can do their jobs as well as they can. If you can, then you’re not hiring the right people — go change that! Otherwise, once a day, go talk to one of your low-level employees — someone more capable than you in their area of expertise — and learn from them. Choose a different person each day. Get as close to the front line workers as possible.

Listen with an open mind and learn. 
Learn about the jobs of the employees that make you successful. Ask what works for them and what doesn’t. Above all, listen to their comments without judgment. Your goal is to connect with their experience of the world, not impose your own. Learn about their life. Find out what motivates them. Why did they come work for you instead of somewhere else? By spending a few minutes understanding their life, you can greatly increase your appreciation of how they’re different (and similar!).

Share your vision from a position of service. 
Convince your leaders that your job is to make them a success. Ask them how their job fits into the work the company does. If they don’t know, take on the responsibility of helping them understand how their job links to the vision. Clarify any confusion they may have about where the company is going. And ask them what you can do to help them succeed at doing their best. Then do it.