From technical expert to CEO
A few times a year I find myself having a conversation with a fellow ops person that goes something like this:
“My organisation is a bit of a nightmare to work at sometimes. Our CEO is a deep technical expert. They really know the ins and outs of our work - but they’re not great at the people side. They don’t really know how to lead an organisation.”
Perhaps you know a founder like this? Perhaps you are working with one now, and are their second-in-command with special responsibility for wrangling them? Or perhaps you are such a founder yourself? For all of those types of readers, I have a suggestion.
I think there is a model, tailor-made for the subject matter expert-type founder, of a CEO role that they can grow into, that supports kind of high-performance culture I write about in this blog. It is a way for them to lean into who they already are, in a way that contributes to organisational development.
What it looks like
1. Starting fires
You do not get deep technical expertise without drive and passion. You have to be very interested in a subject to want to dive deeply into it. Share this passion and interest with others. Let it spark something of the same in them.
2. Framing problems
Having a thorough command of a subject gives you a level of insight into problems not easily available to others. Insight allows you to solve problems, yes, but it also allows you to frame problems. And often, in an organisation, that can be the more powerful skill. It means you act as a catalyst to others, by accelerating them into the right kinds of learning and the right kinds of work.
3. Asking questions
As an extension to the previous point, deep insight also allows you to anticipate and appreciate how possible solutions will pan out. This allows you to ask incredibly powerful questions. Questions that challenge people’s assumptions. Questions that get them to think in new and different ways.1 These sorts of questions again help people learn, help them to do better work independently of you. And to those less technically experienced they can seem like sorcery.
When this works and when it doesn’t
I divide CEOs and founders up into three groups:
CEOs who care about building good organisations - it’s something that matters to them, and it’s part of what being a leader is to them
CEOs who care about the mission, recognise they cannot achieve it on their own and they therefore need an organisation, and are willing to care about building good organisations as a result
CEOs who do not care about organisations
My clients come from groups 1 and 2. I have had subject matter expert-type clients in both groups, although they tend to be more from the second group. I think this model works for both groups.
For those in group 3, there is a different challenge. They’re unlikely to jump into group 1 - but, can they be persuaded to move to group 2? Passion for the mission is the way in. But until you cross that divide, your organisation is hobbled. As a founder you have to ask: are you willing to make that leap? As an ops leader the question is whether you can coach your CEO to take that crucial step.
In my experience, until the CEO is on-board with the importance of a good organisation, there isn’t really anything that anybody else can do to develop it in meaningful and lasting way.
“What will happen if...?” “Have you considered...?” “Why have you ruled out...?” “What is the purpose of…?” etc.