The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

What makes a good CEO

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Ivan sntr

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
188%
Nov 27, 2017
26
49
37
Sydney
Hi,

I'm currently in the process of starting a different business.

Now I know my strengths, which are in product, strategy and marketing.
My weakness is my lack in Project Management Skills, and I absolutely don't enjoy that part of it, multitasking & coordinating over 10 different areas of my business is not something I'm good at.
I'm more of a friend of doubling down on my strengths and hiring people that have their strengths in the areas I'm laking.
Now as I start a new business I'm afraid it's gonna be too much.

Do you guys think all great CEOs have great Project Management Skills? I kinda feel that way...

I'm doing alright. I'm doing close to 7 figures in profit so far this year, but I'm afraid I'm not the type of CEO to scale a business. I'm just not great at building systems.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

DonTheCaptain

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
25%
Aug 14, 2021
4
1
Hi,

I'm currently in the process of starting a different business.

Now I know my strengths, which are in product, strategy and marketing.
My weakness is my lack in Project Management Skills, and I absolutely don't enjoy that part of it, multitasking & coordinating over 10 different areas of my business is not something I'm good at.
I'm more of a friend of doubling down on my strengths and hiring people that have their strengths in the areas I'm laking.
Now as I start a new business I'm afraid it's gonna be too much.

Do you guys think all great CEOs have great Project Management Skills? I kinda feel that way...

I'm doing alright. I'm doing close to 7 figures in profit so far this year, but I'm afraid I'm not the type of CEO to scale a business. I'm just not great at building systems.
Closely hitting 7 figures and still in doubt of yourself, c'mon buddy. I see a lot of excellent executer and I hope it's by being fiduciary. Those aspects you saying that you are lacking are your strongholds coz that's where you're more emphasis is at, these other parts where you're comfortable at are no match to those you allegedly are lacking. I don't wanna make it sound like "Get off your comfort zone" but I believe that tackling the matters in front of you will tend to build you up, lemme quote @MJ DeMarco when he had to take the Html classes that simple "Hello world" code and from that he built a system that made a debut in his life, but still its one's choice.. One can't do it all, if it takes you to allocate human resource to other matters it's all fine though you can atleast get familiar with them and you will see, build an interest about them and all things will fall in place from being what your lacking to your ultimate strongholds. Keep winning buddy!
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,563
68,690
Ireland
A project manager's job is to pass a test on a certain date.

"On X date we need to deliver 10 blue widgets to Y company."

It's not the project manager's job to determine if the business should deliver 10 blue widgets to Y company by the specified date.


The CEO's job is to figure out what needs done by when, and arrange for it to be done. They set the test and the date it will be applied. They’re also ultimately responsible.

They may or may not be the project manager.

They may or may not do some or all of the work.
 
G

Guest-5ty5s4

Guest
The CEO oversees the entire system and in many cases, builds the system on the fly.

They also interact with every single part of the business. While one employee may have a specialty in X area, the CEO knows X, Y, Z, etc.

They can't know how every aspect works, so they also need to be adept at finding people who are skilled in their respective fields, motivating them, communicating with them, planning, negotiating, all of it.

There is a reason why the top of the army is called "general."
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,563
68,690
Ireland

Kung Fu Steve

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
283%
Jul 8, 2008
2,718
7,698
Road Warrior
At your level, understanding the care and feeding of the machine is more important than individual skillsets.

I call it "the machine", my coach calls it "the value chain", but it involves watching over the machine, simplifying it (removing cogs), and making sure the standard of communication between cogs is incredibly high.

You can hire a project manager to do that, but they would need a considerable amount of training.

As long as the machine runs without breaking (i.e. you can service 1,000 customers as easily as 10,000 customers), then you can just pour gas on the fire. More products, services, upsells, downsells, etc.

But all of your stress and profit-leaking will be because of a breakdown of the machine.
 

Johnny boy

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
620%
May 9, 2017
2,929
18,172
27
Washington State
After a certain size, the role of a CEO becomes pretty clear cut. You are not there yet. You are a founder, and a founder has to be competent and knowledgeable in every important area of their business at the early stages and then have the skill to lead and bring on people to replace you at each step of the ladder. At large companies, the project management is done by project managers. The CEO's job is typically navigating the choppy waters of handling equity deals. M&A, fundraising and stock shares, etc. CEO's at small companies do everything and their roles are less clear.

A CEO position is not defined by itself though, that's what the organizational documents of a company are for, to set its own procedures, definitions and roles.

Here's why the question of what makes a good CEO is a little fuzzy. Obviously they need to be very smart, charismatic and diligent compared to the average person, but beyond that, it's difficult to pin it down, because...

1. Each organization and the people within them have their own goals. So before you define a 'good' CEO you need to know the goals. Some companies want exponential growth, some want stability, etc. The same CEO at two identical companies but whos shareholders have different goals would be a hero at one and a piece of shit at the other. So number one is goals.

2. Companies compete in wildly different markets. Some have a 3% profit margin and need to be led with an iron fist where it pays to crunch numbers and be ruthless with costs. Some are creative businesses where there's almost no overhead but the revenue is inconsistent, so flexibility and creativity are more valuable than being detail oriented. Some businesses excel because they have excellent workers at the low levels and they have great systems for managing 5,000 minimum wage workers. Some have 50 engineers and developers and their ability to retain highly talented people that they pay well is what makes them succeed.

The funny thing is people who aren't used to being in business look at it and search for the standard operating procedures because that's what they've done their whole life. There's always a procedure to follow and boxes to check off. It takes a while before it really hits you and you internalize that now there's none of that, and the only 'standard' is the one you set. People are so set in their scripted ways they'll even look up things like "what is the salary of a business owner?" lol. There's no standard and there's no good CEO other than someone who helps the company (or shareholders) achieve the set goals. And those goals can be whatever you want.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

heysander

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Apr 1, 2018
29
35
38
The Netherlands
My weakness is my lack in Project Management Skills, and I absolutely don't enjoy that part of it, multitasking & coordinating over 10 different areas of my business is not something I'm good at.
I recognise that and struggled a lot with it. I learned that delegating and creating a kind of hierarchy puts me in the best space.

I like building the business and not managing the day-to-days. I made one eager employee more responsible as head of the team and besides that I created a Trello board per employee. I'll update the boards every month with tasks that are in line with their skills where I hired them for and also in line with where I think we need to go as a business. The head of the team makes sure everyone delivers in time and reports back to me if there is any hick-up.

This system keeps me in the loop, but enables me to work on growth of the business.
 

Ivan sntr

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
188%
Nov 27, 2017
26
49
37
Sydney
Thanks to everyone for taking the time and the good advice.

I realized I'm having a hard time letting go of any part of the business and I micromanage too much. I pretty much want to be involved in every decision, which is not how I'm gonna be able to scale. I need to work on that.

Also I'm gonna put more time into hiring the right people, setting up SOP's and looking into how I can automate more processes.
 

heysander

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Apr 1, 2018
29
35
38
The Netherlands
Thanks to everyone for taking the time and the good advice.

I realized I'm having a hard time letting go of any part of the business and I micromanage too much. I pretty much want to be involved in every decision, which is not how I'm gonna be able to scale. I need to work on that.

Also I'm gonna put more time into hiring the right people, setting up SOP's and looking into how I can automate more processes.
Sounds like an invaluable insight. Good luck with the process.
Recommended reads on delegating are "It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need" and "Real Power: Business Lessons From the Tao Te Ching"
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ivan sntr

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
188%
Nov 27, 2017
26
49
37
Sydney
Sounds like an invaluable insight. Good luck with the process.
Recommended reads on delegating are "It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need" and "Real Power: Business Lessons From the Tao Te Ching"
Thanks for the book recommendations, haven't heard of them.
I always kept reading books about growing businesses, not how to lead and build great teams.

I just ordered "Who: The A Method for Hiring" and "Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success"
yesterday.

I put your books on my reading list and will have a look at them once I went over the other books.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,563
68,690
Ireland
The best bit of management advice I heard was from Blaise Brosnan.

Tell people what needs done, and why. Let them figure out how.

The worst managers do the opposite. They give detailed instructions HOW and don't explain what needs done and why.

More info here:
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,563
68,690
Ireland
A Method for Hiring
My favourite line about hiring and delegating was by an IT manager I had:

"The person who'll run with the ball is the person who catches it."
- Colin Jennings

(Ha... I just tweeted that.)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top