Dear new CEO,
In a world where people have forgotten how to open an envelope, an open letter is the only recourse! This one is addressed to new CEOs (but may even be a useful refresher to tenured CEOs). After the avalanche of congratulatory mails that you have received, this one is a bit offbeat and asks you to reflect on a few issues you must deal with early on. Seven issues to ponder: Developing a personal brand, managing time, setting an agenda, managing the board, building your team, internal communication, and obtaining information.
Personal brand: Every CEO is a public person. The brand of the company and you will become inextricably linked. So it is important to decide what your personal brand is and what you would like it to be. How do you believe people will describe you today and what parts of that description would you like and what parts would you like to embellish or change?
Along with this you need to consider the nature of the profile you would like to maintain publicly. Would you like a high, a medium, or a low profile and what are the pros and cons of each choice? It is clear you will have to live the public profile you choose. Don't allow any of this to happen by accident and ensure it is consistent with your style and persona.
Time allocation: Till one becomes a CEO the key focus of an executive is to manage one area of business or function. But a CEO needs to manage the board, the regulators, the government, the media, the unions, as well as deliver on his or her agenda. This requires discipline as well as a meeting cadence. You need to know how much time you have after the set institutional commitments (board meetings, reviews, analyst calls, etc) and how to use it. Any serious priority of yours will require your time. How you divide between these should be pre-decided. The rest of your time is okay to go to whoever takes it.
CEO agenda: Setting your agenda is another thing you need to do. If it is five-point agenda, it requires two or three for business and one or two for legacy. Those which relate to legacy take a bit longer and need more change. Those around business can be quicker but are important to choose well. The business levers you pull earn you the "right" to have a legacy. You cannot leave a legacy unless the company does well.
Board: Never neglect your board. In fact, manage it actively. Brief some members in advance and decide how they can help you - whom you reach out to for support and whom for advice (sometimes they may be the same people, but not necessarily). Remember, you don't have to decide or opine on everything. You can say, "let us review this deeper and come back". In essence, there are times you want alignment, at times you want real discussion, and other times when you want support. In board meetings don't go early on an issue unless it is a decision you have already taken and seek support for, otherwise it's better to listen before you opine.
Top team: One of the biggest levers you will have will be to choose your team. Take the time to decide carefully and then make the calls even if they are hard. You must be able to leverage your team. Figure out early who you can depend on and for what and why. You will depend on some for their competence (some technical and some relationship) and some because of their loyalty. Always "appear" open to the issues that are brought up. Learn to listen well and to disarm. People don't always want you to agree with them, but they do want you to listen to them.
Communication: It is difficult to communicate in any organisation that has more than 1,000 people. Yet the CEO must communicate with the organisation. People like knowing about the company before they read about it in the newspapers. You have little time and yet you must be able to reach out to the people, who may not listen or read. So you must have a plan and a method to talk to the organisation. Letters, videos, visits, social media are all part of the armoury but they need to be well orchestrated and then delivered by a communication team that works for you. You can set the cadence. An early letter to the staff is good to begin with.
Information: One of the big problems CEOs face is they don't always get real information. People like to tell them what they want to hear. This is dangerous. You need information on the market, on the quality of your team, about the quality of risk being undertaken, about performance. You need to know the truth. Allow people to talk to you; if something is repeated often, delve into it but keep the information flowing. Getting information requires attention and the creation of a certain culture. Avoid coteries and specifically befriend people from different factions. Don't shut people up in the open houses but don't allow a rebel to derail the session.
The CEO is a great job. It allows you the ability to have great impact. But it is a lonely job and one where you can never forget that the buck always stops with you. There will be many things that can stress you out; try to manage this but don't let your stress show. Stay optimistic and keep your energy levels high.
Warmly,
Janmejaya Sinha
The writer is chairman, Asia Pacific, BCG. Views are personal
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
