Like It or Not You Need To Be CEO

Whether you wanted the job or not, congratulations, you have been promoted to CEO. Even though your passion may be focused on the product or service you deliver, you are now the leader and you must lead your company. Even if you didn’t or still donโ€™t want the job, itโ€™s yours. Employees, customers, vendors, advisors and investors will all expect you to step up and lead.
When asked whether their goal was to โ€œlead a company,โ€ many entrepreneurs will say, โ€œno.โ€ They will say that what motivated them was their passion, their niche, their product, their idea. In fact, many may not have thoroughly considered the โ€œcompanyโ€ part of being an entrepreneur. Think of the doctor, the technologist, the jewelry maker, the fashion designer, the consultant, the scientist and the publicist. They see a way for their unique product or service to come to life. They rarely think about o๏ฌƒces, finances, capital, organizational structure, team management, priority setting, and the list goes on.

“We WILL be there with you every step of the way.”ย 

What It Means to be CEO

There will be plenty of times that you debate with yourself and others, whether you are qualified or even want to be the CEO of the company. Whether youโ€™re eager for the position or pushed unwillingly to it, you must be the CEO during the entrepreneurial launch stage of your company. Whether it is just you, a small team or fifty of you, you need to act like the CEO and must do many things, including:

  • Set the priorities of the company
  • Align the organization to those priorities
  • Ensure that the company is properly funded
  • Inspire people to stick to the vision
  • Clearly communicate with the various constituents of the company

Being the CEO of an established company is hard enough, but being the CEO of a developing business is the ultimate baptism by fire. In most cases, you must do it all without formal training. It takes most leaders their entire career to develop the skills of a good CEO. Is it fair to expect you to learn all the skills of a CEO when it takes most a lifetime? Of course not. Too badโ€”you have to learn those skills in a fraction of that time. Youโ€™re on the accelerated course. You must be the leader.

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