From Manager to CEO: The Leap No One Prepares You For

Moving from manager to CEO is not just a promotion. It's an entirely different game. And the skills that got you here are not going to get you there. So in this video, I'm going to reveal to you the truths about being a CEO and the exact leadership habits that would be wise to develop in order for you to succeed. So by the end of the video, you're going to know how to think, act, and lead like a CEO.

The first leadership habit to master is to prepare, to plan, and pounce. You see, when you are a CEO, you don't have the luxury to warm up. There's no warm up. There's no dress rehearsal. You were expected to already have a plan and you're expected to already be in leadership. So this is why it's important to develop the skill set and the habit of preparing, planning, and to be able to pounce.

So what do I mean by preparation? Preparation, this means that even now, as you are on this journey to becoming a CEO and you're not there yet, start this now. Number one is start preparing. Clarify your vision. Start preparing your person. I always tell my aspiring leaders that it's better to be a prepared person than to have prepared opportunities. It is better to be a prepared person because even if opportunities were given to you and opportunities were great, they were bigger and better opportunities. If you're not prepared to uptake that opportunity, even if it was given to you and you said yes to it, the success does not sustain. It's difficult for you to be able to stay in it. And as a result of that, the opportunity, you aren't able to fully leverage that opportunity if you're not a prepared person.

The other thing about being a prepared person is that if you are prepared as a person, you're able to better recognize which opportunities are the ones that are worthy of your time, your effort, your focus, and your intellect. And you're also better able to recognize which opportunities are the right match for your vision, your values, and your journey. You're better able to visualize these things. And these are the defining qualities of a CEO. So first is prepare yourself. Great leaders who are on the path to becoming CEOs are consistently and persistently developing and preparing themselves for the future. And the reason why is because they have a future-focused vision. So that's number one. Clarify your vision so that you can continue to prepare yourself for the journey that will be if you were to become CEO. So that's prepare.

The second one is to plan. You got to plan out your team. Great CEOs surround themselves with teams who understand the vision and who are bought into the direction of the journey and who have all the right makeup of the skills, the mindsets, and the tool sets to be able to carry out that vision. So who's going to be on your team? Now, if you're sitting here and you're thinking, well, I don't even have direct reports. I don't even have a team. Well, then you're wrong. Change your mindset. Make no mistake about it. The people who are on your team are not necessarily your direct reports. You get to build that team. And don't tell me, don't give me the excuse that, well, I don't have hiring decision-making authority, so I can't build a team. Don't tell me that. Because if you are married, your spouse is a part of your team. If you have kids, your kids are a part of your team. If you have family members who are close to you, friends who you hang out, they are a part of your team. The question you have to ask yourself is, have you been assembling the right team?

Now you might say, well, it's too late. I already married my spouse. I already had my kids, right? You did. So can you turn them into the team members? Can you help them understand how and what the important role they play in your life as a team member? And who else do you need to have on your team? If you don't have the right support from your family members and your friends that you hang around with, are you surrounding yourself with the right mentors? Are you hiring coaches? Are you building the team of support around you? Exercise this skill set and this mindset right now before you become a CEO, because CEOs know how to choose the right people for the right position and area of their life and they elevate all areas of their lives so they can lead. So this is where you are empowering yourself by assembling the right team in every area of your life.

So what do I mean by that? You have an area in your life where you're developing your physical fitness, your health and your wellness. You have an area of life where you need to develop your intellectual understanding, the depth of your understanding of things. You're developing an area of life where you need to be effective in your vocation, your leadership, your career growth. If you're not where you want to be yet, you haven't assembled the right team. If you are not where you want to be right now, you have not assembled the right team. So start developing that mindset, that skill set, start developing it so that you can eventually have the tool set you need to have to become a CEO. That's the second one. We talked about preparing. We talked about planning.

Now what's the third one? The third one is pouncing. So what do I mean by pounce? Pounce means do it now. It doesn't mean do it later. It doesn't mean do it someday. It doesn't mean, oh, I'll do it when it's convenient. It means do it now. Prepare yourself, plan to have the right team in place and pounce on it. Do it now. Procrastination is not your friend. Excuses are not your friend. Anything except I'm going to do it now is an excuse. Anything at all, besides I know what actions I'm taking and I know what I'm doing today. I know what I'm doing this week. Anything that you're saying to yourself or other people that is not that, those are excuses. Those are standing in the way of your action. Those are standing in the way of your goals and CEOs have no time and they cannot afford to be making excuses. Why? Because all outcomes lie on them. Why? Because all of their actions and their words are seen through a microscope and heard through a megaphone. So you got to be able to start developing your mindset towards that. You're going to be one of the most visible people in your organization if you're a CEO. So you got to be able to hone your actions now, align your mindset now, clarify your vision now so that you can be successful in this journey that is ahead of you.

The second important leadership habit to develop is to seek straight stories. So what do we mean by that? Here's one harsh truth about being a CEO. When you are CEO of the company, you're going to hear a lot of filtered information. Filtered information. In other words, people will not necessarily tell you the truth. They're going to tell you something, a partial truth, a half truth. They're going to tell you some information based on something that's filtered out. So that's why a lot of CEOs, especially the bigger the organization is, a lot of them don't know everything that's going on within that organization. And some of the things that they don't know that's happening in the organization is crucial for them to know, but they don't know because they get things through a filter of information.

So what does that mean for you? As you on this journey to becoming CEO, it's important to become the person who is prepared to hear the truth. The truth and nothing but the truth. Think about it. When was the last time where you didn't want to hear something because it might be bad news for you? Or when was the last time that you embraced yourself or you dreaded going into a conversation with somebody because you might hear something of a criticism? You might hear some negative feedback. And you see, if you don't change this now, if you don't adopt a different mindset, this doesn't just go away. And as you step and step, if you step higher and higher into leadership levels, especially to CEO, then what ends up happening is that magnifies. That fear magnifies. And then you end up becoming somebody where people are walking on eggshells around, or they are fearful of, or they feel intimidated by, or they will offer filtered information to you for whatever reason.

So this is why it's important to have that personal growth and development, to change your mindset, make no excuses, and step from one to have that prepare your person, plan, and to pounce on it. Because you got to become the person who can seek straight stories, who can look truth in the eye and be a truth seeker. This also means that you stop defending your own perspectives, that you stop arguing one-sided arguments, but you're able to help people to be seen and heard for who they are and appreciated for who they are. You listen more than you speak. And when you listen, you can hear it. You can hear their story, their truth. Their truth may not be yours. Their truth may be uncomfortable. Their truth may sound critical. Their truth may really trigger emotional responses within you that go really deep that you may not understand. But that's part of becoming a prepared person is to understand why. And as a result of that, you're able to seek straight stories. You're able to hear the truth. You're able to be someone that people desire to be around more, but also someone that people can confide in and they can share things with. And as a result of that, the information that you hear will become less and less filtered. Instead, you can apply the boundaries that are needed to protect your time, to protect your bandwidth, but they won't be filtered for you. So that's the harsh truth of CEO, being a CEO and the leadership habit that you need to develop to overcome that.

Now let's talk about the third leadership habit. It's stakeholder stretch. How can you manage a stretch of stakeholders? You see, when you're a manager, you basically just respond to your boss and your team. But as a CEO, your audience stretches. It expands. You have regulators, you have investors, you have employers, employees, you have the board, you have the media, you have customers, you have the public. Especially if you're a CEO, oftentimes you're the face of the company and you have to be also in relationship with the press. So you see, your audience expands. And so what it takes to be a CEO is to be able to effectively communicate with, build trust with, and build strong connections with, and build meaningful relationships with all of these different audiences.

When you're a manager, your bubble is very small. Your boss, your direct report, maybe your skip level manager, and then your peers immediately around you. And sometimes if you have them, your direct reports. Now in the grand scheme of things in the company, that's a very small amount of stakeholders. The audience is very small in comparison to the audience size when you're a CEO. And as a result of that, if you've been a manager for a very long time, that very quickly becomes your comfort zone. Now I've worked with so many managers who are very comfortable speaking with their direct reports and speaking with their peers, and even speaking with their direct manager, with their boss. But I see this very often when it comes to speaking with their skip level manager and above there's nervousness, there's hesitancy, there's not knowing what to say, there's not knowing how to position themselves. All of a sudden there's paralysis, there is just not knowing how to make it smooth, not knowing how to connect with them. There's all sorts of these issues. And this is where it's important stakeholder stretch to be able to prepare yourself now for stakeholder stretch. You need to be able to develop that level of communications acumen.

So you notice I didn't say communication skills. I said communications acumen. What does that mean? Communication acumen is larger, is a bigger umbrella than just communication skill. Communication acumen means that you truly understand the art and the science of communication. It means that you truly understand how to navigate and transition between these very different audiences. Speaking to your boss is very different than speaking to the media. Speaking to your skip level manager is very different than speaking to investors or potential investors. Can you see what I'm saying? These audiences have different, have different items at stake. These audiences have a very different relationship with you and the company and the industry. These audiences have very different motivators. They have different ways of navigating trust. They have different levels of measuring diplomacy. And all of this comprises communication acumen. And this is the most important thing for you to develop. When you have communication acumen, only when you have communication acumen, then you can develop the individual communication skills.

So the individual communication skills now, you got to develop them now if you desire to be a CEO, are things like impromptu communication, are things like negotiation. They are things like building trust, speaking to inspire, speaking in a presentation style, speaking to inform of updates and data. All of these are the individual communication skills that fit under the umbrella of communication acumen. And this is how you effectively navigate the stakeholder stretch that you will necessarily face once you become CEO. So start this now, have a game plan. How are you going to start to understand the acumen that's required in communications? And then prioritize, what are all the different communication skills that you need to develop and hone and master right now so that when the opportunity arises that you are stepping up in your level, close to CEO, that you become a prepared person, not just to accept that opportunity, but to succeed in it.

Now let's talk about the fourth leadership habit to develop. It is this, it's team tune-up. You see, when it comes to culture change, culture change cannot happen without leadership change first. Now I have a lot of clients who come to work with me in my coaching mentorship and they always say, well, I want to build a great culture for the team. And the culture is not where it really needs to be. And there are people who are unmotivated, people who are underperforming. But you know, I'm not a leader. I don't have XYZ title. So there's nothing I can do about it. So if you are in that position, then here's what I would say to you. Leadership is not a title. Leadership is not performance. Everyone has the ability to lead right now. And I'll prove it to you by offering you my definition of leadership. This is my definition of leadership is not the dictionary definition of leadership. Leadership is when you effectively evoke action in other people and their action affects positive change and they do so authentically as a result of watching what you do.

You see, leadership is really action oriented. People can see what you do. They can hear what you say, but sometimes you say things and you don't follow through. And sometimes people don't say what they mean. And so that's why when it comes to leadership, people, human beings innately understand this, even if they aren't able to articulate it, they innately understand it. And that's why people are constantly looking at what other people are doing. And when they watch what you do, regardless of whether or not you have a leadership title or you have authority, positional authority to lead, people are still watching what you do. And if what you are doing consistently on a day to day basis, if what you're doing is so effective, if it is insightful, if it is thoughtful, if it is productive, if it is inspiring, guess what? You're going to have followers and you're going to have followers not because you ordered them to do anything. You're not going to have followers because you are making them fearful, leading by fear. You're not going to have followers because you're incentivizing them or bribing them to do anything. You're going to have followers because they saw what you did and they naturally desire to follow you.

So you see simultaneously in every sliver of the day, every moment of the day, you have leaders and followers all the time. So the question you've got to ask yourself is what are the series of actions that you need to be taking to demonstrate effective leadership? And that's the essence of what defines effective leadership is effective actions. And as a result of that, you get to build a culture of performance. And as a result of that, you get to shape up your team. You get to tee up your team. So I always say to my clients, don't wait for you to be promoted into leadership. What does that mean anyway? Isn't it true that people who will have senior positions by their job title, they're not always great leaders. Isn't that true? Then it's not a title that makes a great leader. It's what actions they're taking. Do you know what those are? You got to become the person who knows what they are. And then even if you know what those actions are, you got to become the person who can do them consistently. So that comes right back to my point about becoming a prepared person. So this is essential habit of leadership is developing your team, not by getting a title first and ordering them around or becoming an authority and then creating SOPs. Not by that. It's creating great teams by leading through your actions and understanding the essence of leadership that way. And in so doing, you prepare yourself for the journey of transitioning to CEO.

Transitioning into the CEO position is not just a promotion. It is an entirely different journey. If you are ready for this journey and you recognize now that it is about developing some leadership habits. It is a different way of thinking. It is becoming a prepared person more than it is about waiting for the right prepared opportunity. Then I invite you to work with me. Check below this video somewhere in the link below this video in the description. There is an opportunity for you to speak with one of my trusted career advisors. And this is a no fluff, no obligation session, a call where a video call where they're going to really get to know you, the challenges, what your goals are, and to explore whether it's the right fit to work with me and my coaches. And if it is the right fit, then you're going to get an invitation to come into my mentorship. This is my executive mentorship program where I help prepare people for the path to becoming a CEO or becoming a senior executive. Whatever your goal might be, I've seen it. I've seen over. I've helped people to achieve it. Whatever your challenges might be in terms of communications, in terms of mindset, in terms of having to develop an understanding of the environment, navigating the different challenges. I've seen it as well, and I've helped other people overcome it. So if this is something you are serious about and you're certain that this is a path that is meaningful to you, then I invite you to speak with my team members. And then I look forward to inviting you into the mentorship where myself and my coaches are going to hold you by the hand to give you the mentoring, the coaching, and the consulting to guide you on this journey. And you can speak with us. You'll have the training. We'll give you the tool sets as well. We'll help you navigate your situations to help you have greater conversations. And that way, when you're on the journey that you have a blueprint and a roadmap on what are the prioritized action steps to get there. And this not only will help you to prepare to be the person, but it'll also help you to prepare for the challenges that will come when you step up into greater positions. The challenges you have in your team, in your own operations, and within your relationships as well. I'm excited for what you can achieve in reaching your full potential. Click the link below the video and I look forward to working with you on the inside.

Principle number five for leadership habits is lonely leadership. I said it, lonely leadership. The higher you rise, the lonelier it gets. And the reason why is because less and less people challenge you. Less and less people give you feedback. In fact, good and actionable feedback and honest feedback is quite rare the higher you guys. I mean, think about it. Would you give your CEO critical feedback on his decision, his or her decisions? Not likely. And that's exactly it. CEOs, because they are the overseer of the whole organization, regardless of how they got there, regardless of how they got that seat, there's less and less banter. There's less and less feedback. And it can feel very lonely. I speak from experience. If I am leading my company and Mastery Insights is my company, it's a global company. And I have a team beneath me and there's layers of leadership. And I have team members from all around the world. And as a result of that, having layers of leadership, I don't know everything that's happening on my teams. I don't know the day to day of what all of my team members are doing, what my employees are doing. I don't know. And as a result of that, sometimes when I lead team meetings and I give the direction or I share my vision, it just gets accepted as is. It's very rare. And as a result of that, it can feel very lonely because as a CEO, outside of having a board members, really they're the ones that are strategizing at the highest level in the organization.

So what does this mean for you now? It means you got to prepare yourself for this right now. And the best way to prepare yourself for this right now is to elevate your own visibility. Because chances are, if you're a manager or if you're a senior manager or a junior VP, you might've experienced lonely leadership or maybe you've been working in silos for a long time. And this is something I hear very common. I have a lot of senior managers that come into my mentorship and many of them tell me that they've already been working in silos and it's already feeling very lonely because it's very difficult to have meaningful banter with people and it's very difficult for them to have meaningful feedback even from their higher ups. So you got to start already navigating this landscape by becoming more visible in yourself. Speaking up in meetings, sharing your insights, having those insights really make a difference in the audience members who hear it. Being able to navigate silos and turn those into collaborations. Being able to turn individual motivations, individual values into collective reality, into collective appreciation. Got to start working on these skills now. Because the last thing I want for you, if you're watching this, is if you already experience working in silos and it's already feeling quite lonely because you have all these ideas and no one's really picking up on them. And if you're already feeling like this, as you rise higher and higher in leadership, it's only going to get worse. It's only going to be more and more amplified. So if you don't want that experience of lonely leadership, then chances are right now you got to be able to navigate human to human relationships to develop meaningful relationships that are equitable, that are meaningful, that are grounded in appreciation and more importantly, acceptance of differences and pairs of opposites. So develop these human skills right now and elevate your visibility. Come out of hiding. Come out of hiding. Don't be too comfortable in being behind the scenes. Don't be too comfortable in listening more than you speak in meetings and avoiding speaking up. Don't get too comfortable in that. Because the world needs great leaders. Companies need great leaders who are comfortable speaking up, who are comfortable with receiving criticism, who are comfortable at accepting all of the things that might come that other people might say. All companies need leaders like this. So start preparing yourself for this journey right now so that the experience you can have as you rise to the CEO position isn't going to be one of loneliness, but it's going to be one of high leverage, visibility, accountability and visibility, but also surrounding yourself with the right people who embrace that journey with you.

The sixth leadership habit to develop right now is mentor and multiply. You see, if you desire to step up into next level roles, senior leadership roles or senior executive roles, you will necessarily be making more and more decisions with less and less information. And the decisions that you will be making as you rise are going to have greater impact, greater risk, greater significance and greater output in leverage. And you see, a lot of people that I work with that come into my mentorship, they've already been making decisions for the company or for their department. And those decisions that they've been making, they've been making them for a long time. And so that type of decision needs to run through them. And if everything stays that way, that is going to be very difficult for you to get to the next position if those decisions need to run by you, because if it needs to run by you, and you're the one that needs to approve the decision or make the final decision, then you're not going to have the bandwidth or the intellect or develop the skills to make higher level decisions. So CEOs understand this. And it's not that every decision needs to run by them, but they are mentoring and multiplying decision-making over a larger population. And this is the essence of what you need to start developing right now. And it does mean letting go of some decisions you've been making. It does mean letting go of some of the activities that you might be leading in or performing in that you know you do really well, but it's a process of letting go and a process of knowing exactly who to mentor and how to mentor them so you can multiply that productivity and that effectiveness and that it can continue to sustain that effectiveness even without you being there. And you do that by building assets. You're building those assets. So then this is a very important leadership skill. Don't wait for yourself. Don't wait to get that title in order for you to start doing this. You got to start to see it right now. Start to see how the decisions you're making right now are no longer the decisions that you need to be making if you desire to take on a senior leadership role. In fact, you got to start to see how if you continue to hoard these decisions, how it's going to hold you back from stepping up to senior leadership roles. So that is an important leadership habit is to mentor and multiply.

The seventh leadership habit is this. Behavior becomes a brand. Now I always say that if you desire to be a sought-after leader in your organization or in your industry, you got to build a brand, a personal brand. And the brand that you build is essential because people don't listen to what you say. They watch what you do. It's human. It's innate human. We all just watch what people do and you do too. And you might hear what people say and you might say things to people and people hear what you say and you hear what people say. But ultimately, they're waiting to see your follow-through. Think about it. People watch what you do. They watch who you spend your time with. They watch how you spend your time and where you spend your time on. They're able to observe these things. They're also able to observe what you personally follow up on and they're also able to observe. How and where you spend your money. Now you might be thinking, that's not possible because where I spend my money is personal. But make no mistake about it. You tell the world this. If you think about it, people can see where you spend your money on. They can see whether or not you got new clothes, especially if they're familiar with your wardrobe and all of a sudden you change your wardrobe. They can see what car you drive. They will hear through the grapevine how often you go on vacation, what kind of vacations you go on. They're going to see what you spend your time on. I had a client one time. This was such a great story. She was in my mentorship for six months and she was in it for six months because she desired to be in my mentorship longer because of the person she was becoming. Now when she came into the mentorship, she was someone who was very introverted and shy. You know the type. Introverted, shy, doesn't speak up, listens to the conversation in the meeting before saying anything and then misses the moment because she was trying to make a perfect message and the moment has passed. This was her. So came into the mentorship program and the first thing that I worked with her on after conversing with her and getting a diagnosis on what were her challenges, we started working on her inner fortitude, her mindset and then developed the skills on knowing what to say and when to say it and eventually she transformed. She started speaking out more. She started to show up with more of a presence. She started to be more confident within herself and nothing else changed except that. And one day she comes to talk to me and she goes, you know, my colleagues are starting to notice that I've changed and in fact, many of them have kind of pulled her aside and asked her, you know, something's different about you. You're more confident now. You look so calm. What have you been investing in? And so they could tell that she was investing in herself and they asked her, what have you been doing? I want that too. You see people know how and where you've been investing your money because people are watching. People can't help it. And every human can't help it, but they're constantly telling the world where they're spending their time, where they're spending their money, where they're spending their focus. Like you constantly tell the world, even if you don't realize it, you're telling the world this. So this is where it's important. Behavior is the brand. If you desire to build a culture that's high performing, that's effective, that's honest, that is respectful. Whatever culture you desire to build, you must live it. If you desire to be seen as somebody who's professional, who is a people person, who is a knowledgeable, then you must live it. Behavior is the brand. You must live that which you desire to create in the marketplace. You must live that which you expect of your future team members. You must live it first. Because the definition of I want to build a culture, but I don't do what I say, that is the very definition of malpractice and moral hypocrisy. You must live it. Only when you live it, that is when you can be truly congruent inside out. And when you're congruent, you can become a great leader, a sought-after leader to have that congruence. That way you can stand in front of your audience and say, what I'm teaching you is not based on theory. It is based on practice. And I've practiced this over the years. Isn't that strong positioning? So this is a very important behavioral. The habit of leaders is that the behavior becomes the brand.

The eighth leadership habit is praise with purpose. Salary matters. Like it's important. I'm not going to deny it. Salary matters, but it is not as important as meaningful contribution and something that is truly connected to the soul. If you think about it, one of the harsh truths about being a CEO is to build a highly productive, autonomous, independent workers, team members who have high potential and who are intrinsically motivated. That's the challenge of every CEO who leads a company and therefore a company with a global mission behind it. It's a challenge of every CEO. And as managers, and I've worked with so many managers over the years, one of the things they have in common, and they always tell me this, they say, Dr. Grace, I just want to be recognized. Is that you? You want to be recognized. And it's important to understand the difference between recognition that is meaningful and recognition that is meaningless. A lot of managers that I work with, they haven't even thought through what it means to be recognized. They just know they want it. And if you don't have that clarity, it's very difficult to progress in your journey towards CEO because you won't know how to provide that for someone else.

So what I teach, one of the most important, the critical things that I teach is that when you praise somebody, praise itself does not constitute recognition because praise can be careless. I can be carelessly praising you and I could be saying great things about you, but you don't even care about it. It's not important to you. One of the things I'm praising you about, for example, some women, professional women, brilliant leaders, do not care about being praised for their appearances. Now I'm calling a spade a spade. I'm included in this. If someone came to me and they were praising the way I dress, they were praising the way I looked. I mean, sure it's well-intentioned, but it's not meaningful to me. It doesn't resonate with me. So that's one example. And that would be careless praise. So if you desire recognition, you must become eventually, and you desire to be CEO, you must become eventually someone who can recognize and understand recognition and the difference between careless praise and meaningful praise. And this means being able to connect, meaningful contribution to what you do. Can you do that for yourself? Do you know what that means for you? If you don't know what that means to you, and you can't do that for your own career path, then we've got a problem. It'll be difficult for you to offer that type of recognition for someone else.

Now, if you are a manager right now or senior manager, or if you're a team leader and you're noticing that your team members are feeling disengaged or disconnected with your team, then that is a signal that there's a gap there for you. And there's an opportunity for you to develop yourself into a leader there. So this is important for you to start now, especially if you desire to be a CEO or lead a bigger team, because you don't jump from manager to CEO overnight. There's a few steps in between. So what are the few steps in between? I'm not going to talk about job titles. You already know that the steps in between manager to CEO is your ability to communicate and your ability to recognize leaders in such a way that they feel inspired, that they're able to be independent workers and they're being intrinsically motivated so you don't have to micromanage them. And that's the essence. That's every CEO's problem. And the way to be able to do that effectively, to start to do that effectively, is to become the person who recognizes and understands recognition yourself. So many managers make this mistake is that they tell me and they say, I want to be recognized, but they don't really know what it means. And they don't know the difference between careless praise and meaningful praise. So this is a leadership habit. It is praise with purpose. That's the essence that you praise with purpose, not purpose the way you define it, but purpose the way it is defined by them. Because you're not here to project your values onto your team members and you don't want your boss to project their values on you either. It doesn't feel good. You would feel recognized. You will feel deeply recognized if someone more senior to you was able to meaningfully praise you on things that were purposeful to you, where you felt in purpose and on purpose that creates meaning for you. You would not feel recognized. If your boss was praising you on things that weren't important to you, that you did not put place purpose in, then you see how that you would not perceive that as recognition. You got to understand that so that your praise becomes purposeful.

The ninth leadership habit is this one to bond with your board. Yes, I'm referring to the board of directors. You see the board can either be your greatest ally or it can be your greatest obstacle, but you get to choose. The magic is in how you formulate that relationship. Now you might be sitting here and thinking, well, this doesn't apply to me. I don't have a board or there's the board, but I'm not involved in those meetings. But then you have the wrong mindset. Remember, don't make excuses for your situation. You got to think from where you will be in the future. If you desire to be the CEO that you say you desire, then one day you will have a board and that day is right now. So what do I mean by that? If you want to prepare yourself effectively to take on a CEO level positions, you got to start right now being able to manage and navigate relationships with board members. So the way to do that is to treat your senior executives as though they were your board members because essentially they are. You think about it. What does the board of directors do? The board of directors is an advisor to the C-suite, especially the CEO and they desire because they're invested in the growth of the business. So they need to have transparency. They're invested in it. It could be time. It's definitely time and attention. It could be money. It could be stocks and shares, but they're invested in it. And there are people that you work for and you work under that are invested in essentially the same way. So treat your senior executives as though they are board members because they are. They have the same level of investiture in the things that you do, the decisions that your team is making, the output of your projects. They have investments in that. So build meaningful relations with them and understand how to communicate that with them in such a way that you're giving them the things that they need to have, to have a level of transparency, to value the relationship they have with you. So this is important. Navigate your relationship with the board, build meaningful relations with them so that you can have the trust and that they can become your greatest ally.

Now let's talk about the last leadership habit. And here it is. It is profit with purpose. CEOs got to have the habit of thinking about purpose. And the reason why is because investors, employees, board members, they want to know that the company stands for something besides just the revenue. Now you've probably worked for companies where it was all about the money. Senior leaders, executives, it was all about the money. It was so money driven. Like how does that make you feel? A lot of clients that I've had who were senior VPs in organizations worked for companies like this and it doesn't feel good. It makes them wonder, well, what are we doing this for? Is it really just the money? And it feels yucky. It feels constraining. It feels empty. Like these are some of the adjectives that I hear from clients all the time who've worked for companies where it really does seem like they are primarily or solely revenue driven.

So how does this apply for you right now? This applies to you because you got to focus on impact. The impact behind your profits. Now, as I mentioned before, salary is important, but meaningful contribution is what gives you fulfillment. So what's the purpose behind your decisions? What's the impact you desire to make? Now, if you desire to get that next level position, if you desire to grow your leadership, those are great goals, especially if they're authentic goals, they're great goals. But don't just make it about that because then it's shortsighted. Make it about long-term impact. What is the long-term impact of your decisions? Start to develop the habit of linking your decisions with impact. Don't just stop at getting that job title, getting that corner office or getting that next level role. Don't just stop there. Think about what are the long-term impacts, not just on you as a person, but on the people that you care about, on the people that you desire to mentor, on the people that you are currently mentoring, on the future people that might come across your path. Start to think longer term. CEOs understand this because it's important to build great teams and to attract great clients and to attract great team members too. When you focus your profit on impact, you get to attract people who are intrinsically motivated and who are inspired to be there because there's a movement behind everything you do and it's not just about revenue. So think about how this applies to the decisions you've been making in your career path, in your projects, and also in your life.

To go from manager to CEO, you don't just need technical skills. In fact, it's less and less about technical skills. I've just given you 10 leadership habits to develop. As a result of those habits, also paired with it, 10 realities of being a CEO. These realities are not just challenges, but they are opportunities for you to think, act, and lead like a CEO and start to develop those now.