What Makes A Great Small-Business CEO?

Often, the best CEO is not the founder.

The founder is great at setting a vision, bootstrapping, and getting the company from 0 to 1, but they're usually not the ones who will take the company from 1 to 10 and then from 10 to 100.

My father started his company in 1986, after an executive role for an airline that was going bankrupt.

He hustled every day, maximizing the initial $10,000 investment to get the company off the ground. My mother worked 12-hour days.

Their daily grind built the company on a stable foundation, but it could not survive without them.

They became burnt out. Frustrated. Tired!

When I was asked to become CEO, I knew things had to change.

But this also meant that I knew that I would have a cap on what I'm able to do.

I could not be the CEO forever if we wanted to get the company to the next stage.

My strengths are solving big problems, setting a strategic course, and developing new and exciting projects.

I dislike day-to-day activities.

Call it my ADD, but I love to jump around different projects.

Most CEOs will have a limit. That's when a new CEO will have to take the reigns and take the company to the next stage in its lifecycle.

However, every CEO, no matter what their ultimate goal is for the company, must embody these areas of responsibility:

A CEO must design the company Playbook, which consists of the mission, vision, values, quarterly objectives, and key results.

A CEO must create a system to install dashboards, accountability, and critical drivers.

A CEO must develop or delegate the creation of processes and procedures.

A CEO must allocate resources and review financial statements. Financial literacy is a MUST.

A CEO must hire and develop leadership teams.

A CEO must build the company's organizational structure.

A CEO must maintain the culture.

If a CEO is stuck in the day-to-day or not executing these responsibilities, the company and team are suffering from it.