It's not uncommon for the leader of the company to have started as the original service technician, salesman, or product designer - and that makes for some unique opportunities and challenges. Below are three tips on how to effectively manage your position as the CEO/Leader of the company.
1. Don't Put Out Every Fire
This can be a hard practice, but as the leader of the company you have to delegate some "emergency" situations to your team. They may not solve them exactly how you wanted, but if you can empower them to make decisions and execute solutions, you can transition out of the "day-to-day".
Reverie identified leaders within the company, gave them the right job descriptions, titles, and training, and now I have a management team of 7 people that I can trust to handle any emergency situation that comes our way. Vacations are actually vacations now after 17 years of running the day to day operations of the business... - Reverie Client
2. Be Aware of Your Influence
This is a topic of conversation with almost all of the CEO's we work with - don't forget your impact! When you have worked with your team for 15 years, they're like a second family to you. You may think they see you as a peer more than a boss, but they don't!
They know that you have the final say in matters, and this means that your conduct and reactions are more closely watched than others.
3. Keep Your Passion
Your passion is what got you here in the first place. Don't loose it. Keep pushing forward, and keep the energy high. Use your passion to inspire your team and create amazing results! In the process, make sure you find ways of expressing your passion and creativity in a way that's productive for your team.
I always have a lot of ideas in my brain on how to make the business better, having a member of Reverie on my executive team helped me tremendously. I had someone to call who could ask me good questions and help me solidify them without feeling like I was overwhelming them. I couldn't have done that to my management team, and still expected them to be productive and on-task. -Reverie Client