CEOs should never confuse friendship with leadership.

Founder: “Everyone is like family here, Alexis”
Founder: “Ok, actually we’re struggling”

CEOs should never confuse friendship with leadership.

Period.

I have managed 100s of A-players.

Over the last 20 years..

I see too many CEOs who hire fast.

Build “fun” cultures, fully remote, casual Fridays.

They run up a toxic “we’re all friends” environment.

Then mediocrity sets in.

This is when they reach out to me.

Team management should be done professionally.

Instead of prioritizing being liked.
↳ Prioritize building high-performing teams.

With no structure, you have no excellence.
↳ Dedicate 1 day a week to performance reviews.

Need to turn things around in less than 3 months?
↳ Then 2-3 days of active management.

Building A-teams in 2024 doesn’t have to be scary.

It’s not popular work, but it is crucial.

If you avoid confrontation.
If you hate setting boundaries.
If you prefer being “the cool boss”.

Remember the CEO doesn’t have to do it alone.

Instead:

a) Hire a full-time HR Director
b) Use my management consulting service.

If you are going 200 miles an hour…

It is hard to stop the train to reset.

Remember:

Build your standards early.

Start early ➜ Seek help.