Hillary Clinton campaigned that she would be prepared to lead the country from Day One, but many new CEOs are not really ready to run their companies early in their tenure.
Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter and colleagues Jay Lorsch and Nitin Nohria outline the Seven Things That Surpise New CEOs in an excerpt from Porter’s the new book, On Competition, reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.
Here are three takeaways from the authors.
1. Manage Time Don’t get bogged down in the weeds. “The CEO must learn to manage organizational context rather than focus on daily operations,” write the authors.
2. Loyalty is Earned It may be uncomfortable, but all eyes are on you. “CEOs can easily lose their legitimacy if their vision is unconvincing, if their actions are inconsistent with the values they espouse, or if their self-interest appears to trump the welfare of the organization.”
3. Forget Perfection Ego may have helped you get the top job, but it won’t help you keep it. “The CEO must not get totally absorbed in the role. Even if others think he is omnipotent, he is still only human. Failing to recognize this will lead to arrogance, exhaustion, and a shortened tenure.”
The article is a handy little check list that can benefit all new leaders. When you took command for the first time, what did you realize you did not know?
Courtesy of BNET.
