The 5 Worst Mistakes to Make as a CEO

Any CEO truly worth their salt will understand the tremendous influence they have on a company. As a CEO’s actions generally spearhead the direction and generate the profitability of an organization, it is imperative to understand how setting the tone and promoting the culture of your brand will influence the vision of your workforce. As someone with aspirations of being a CEO, or even those established in that position, these common pitfalls should be avoided at all costs.

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Unrealistic expectations

The impact of failed expectations can be severely detrimental to the impact of your business on the local market. For example, a CEO takes over a company and sets targets in order to please shareholders in the short term. These targets involve staff members selling a number of high-end properties in the Edmonton Real Estate Market. At the end of the monthly period, the sales are significantly below what were realistic but expected, which means the CEO is sandwiched between stakeholder disappointment and low staff morale.

In this case, a CEO has shattered his worth in the eyes of both.

Lobsters can’t fly and eagles can’t swim

Do you understand the role each individual team member has in ensuring the company progresses? Are the strengths you require in a certain role incompatible with the incumbent manager or department head? Many inexperienced CEO’s will look to demote or even fire that staff member without discovering or considering the possibility that the worth of that individual is simply misplaced, and that they would function better in another position. Your role, much like a chess player, is to understand how you can work towards an end goal with the pieces you have.

Rash reasoning, knee-jerk reactions and routinely replacing staff members or adding new ones is rarely successful. Think of failing sitcoms who introduce new characters that add nothing to the narrative other than a fresh face.

Failing to encourage objective feedback

Managers, supervisors and department heads seem to only tell you what you want to hear. If this does not set off alarm bells, especially if results are far from congruous to their glowing optimism, then it may be time to employ impartial advice. If you have no mentor or are failing to get to the bottom of any issues, reach out to a consultancy that offers expert opinions or advice to CEOs.

Realistic feedback and having a trusted deputy involves more than absolute loyalty and willingness to please.

Failing to be honest to yourself

If you have been working towards this role for the majority of your professional life, you may feel somewhat accomplished as you are. However, if your ego is overruling the purpose of your position, you will eventually have to deal with the reality that brings. If you are not true to yourself as a CEO, you will not be in a position to be true to anyone else. You must instill the type of confidence you have in others, so if this is not based on achievement and credit, expect those around you to follow suit.

Failing to learn from your mistakes

A mistake is not always something to treat as an accident or an indication that you are failing to learn. In fact, mistakes can often illuminate a thought process or perspective on something which you had never considered before. Failing to learn from your mistakes, on the other hand, is something you want to avoid like the plague. Be pragmatic and ensure that the lessons you learn from any errors or misjudgments become recyclable fuel you can use to further your understanding a CEO.

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