Expert mindset and CEO mindset

One of the most important points of balance for business leaders concerns the mindset that you bring to the leadership role.  In another section there will be a discussion of the so-called leadership pipeline, which applies to large organizations that have the luxury to groom people, over time, into leadership positions.  On the other hand, it is the norm in smaller businesses and startups for the founder and owner to be a passionate performer, who starts a business to pursue their passion, without necessarily going through a series of training and promotion experiences to build the mindset and expertise of a CEO or business leader.


The lack of experience and training in leading a business can definitely affect the health of your business.  I suspect you may be nodding your head, based on what is going on right now in your office.  The issue of knowledge of what my friend Mike Zepponi (a turnaround specialist and small business banker) calls "businesscraft" is one that will inevitably come up in any business that grows beyond the solopreneur.  And even the one-person shop cannot escape the non-HR issues that go along with running a business.

At the same time, that passion cannot really be denied.  Almost certainly you are where you are because of the love of the work, the desire to satisfy customers and clients, the satisfaction you get from knowing that you are the best at what you do, which is what motivated you to get into business in the first place.

So, here we have arrived at a point where your success in balancing these two thought processes will have a significant impact on the health of your business.  Can you do the things that are required of the CEO?  Can you champion the vision?  Can you lead your team into the future?  And at the same time, can you assure that your knowledge of the industry, the methods and techniques required for success are transmitted and followed by everyone who is doing the work that you love to do?

Let's take a closer look at the two sides of this balance point, to see what you're up against, as you try to maintain a healthy mindset of the expert, and successfully take on the mindset of the CEO:   Mindset of the CEO  Mindset of the expert

To get back to the hub list of healthy business factors, click here.
To get back to the discussion of businesses as living systems, click here.