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Good CEOs Balance Certainty with Open-mindedness

Eric Crews
|
3.14.2024
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I realized something the other day.

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I keep getting older.

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And the older I get, the more I am certain of exactly two things:

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1. There are a few things I know in life, but especially in business, for sure.

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These are the things I’ve experienced firsthand; seen with clients over and over (and over). The things I get paid to know as an executive, get paid to know as a consultant.

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The hills I’m willing to die on, so to speak.

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Here’s the other thing I know:

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2. As for everything else….I have a lot to learn.

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There is so much that I don’t know. And if I want to avoid the trap of becoming a “know-it-all CEO” in charge of a company that doesn’t grow, I have to stay open to what I know I don’t know.

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Recognize that my small circle of certainty is important, yes. But not make it my entire world.

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I have to assume that if I’m not 100% sure of it, I don’t know anything about it at all.

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And more than that—I need to learn.

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That’s the job of an executive as well. That’s the job of a consultant.

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Keep learning. Stay curious.

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I’ve talked about this before: the more you succeed, the more you will inevitably enter a domain where you lack experience.

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As I helped grow my clients’ companies, I found myself entering unfamiliar territory. Together, we’ve grown businesses that are, in some cases, bigger than even my client thought was possible.  It’s exciting.

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It’s scary.

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***

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There’s more here than a platitude about being open-minded.

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The things you’re certain of: don’t keep them locked in your head.

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Operationalize them.

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If you know gross margin is a crucial indicator for your business (it is):

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  • Set targets around desired gross margin
  • Measure gross margin via scorecards
  • Build processes that support hitting your gross margin

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Instead of relying on your ability to persuade your team about the things you know for sure, make them part of the DNA of your company.

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The things you don’t know: figure out how to learn them.

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Staying curious and continually fueling your own growth is important.

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But you are only one person. You can’t know everything. And you shouldn’t try to.

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Learn from people who are smarter than you are.

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Get those people on your team. Bring their knowledge into the collective expertise of your business to make better decisions.

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Where you’re uncertain, adopt an experimental mindset.

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You have a hypothesis. Might be right, might be wrong.

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Try to detach from the outcome. What’s important is to test your theory.

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***

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If this was easy…well, I wouldn’t feel compelled to write about it, for one.

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There’s stuff that gets in the way. It can be hard to separate what you know from what you don’t.

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And even harder to admit it.

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If you’re an employee, at any level of the business, admitting you don’t know something might not feel safe.

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And for a CEO, it’s no different. Maybe you don’t worry about your job being in jeopardy. But you do worry that you’ll lose respect, or be seen as a less effective leader.

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A CEO’s job isn’t to know everything.

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It’s to build a great business.

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Letting ego or fear dominate your decision-making hurts the company. Admitting you have gaps—and then doing the work to fill them—is always the better path.

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Put another way: if you have a solution to every problem, people start to discount what you have to say.

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If you hold fast to the things you know for certain and keep an open mind the rest of the time, you’ll earn more respect.

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(And, frankly, you’ll get your way when it really matters.)

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If you know less, you have the chance to learn more.

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Not a bad trade, in my opinion.

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