07/24/2024

CEO Self-assessment

You must be your toughest critic and biggest fan

A theme in my work with CEOs is the necessity of seeing yourself clearly and cultivating the capacity to rigorously assess your weaknesses and your strengths. You have to be both your toughest critic and your biggest fan.

This is good advice for executives at any level, but it's particularly important for CEOs because the nature of the role makes it difficult to get candid feedback from people in a position to offer relevant and trustworthy guidance.

The people who have your best interests at heart and who you trust to be candid, such as family and friends, may not be in a position to offer a meaningful critique of your performance. The people who are in such a position, such as board members, investors and senior employees, may not be candid or they may have obligations that, at some point, diverge from your personal interests. And the mentors you relied upon to fill this gap earlier in your career may no longer be available to you. So, what can you do?

Please select this link to read the complete blog post from Ed Batista.