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DoctorPreneur: What a CEO Does
John James, M.D.
Last week, Jeff wrote a great blog about assembling a great board of directors. Jeff is a great guy to write the post – he’d make a wonderful addition to the advisory board of any young company. My company is in the process of finalizing our own board of advisors to help us sell more welding jackets and similar type items, so I enjoyed reading his sage advice.
In addition to Jeff’s post, I found an abundance of other intellectual nuggets this week. In fact, I read the shortest, most influential statement I’ve read in quite a while. It was from Fred Wilson regarding the role of a CEO. For those of you not familiar with Fred, he is a preeminent NYC venture capitalist. And a blogger. A great blogger.
I’ve always struggled with how to define my role as a startup CEO. In fact, my 5-year-old daughter tells her friends that “my daddy used to be a doctor and now he sells girls’ clothes.” What a painful fall from grace!
So, for the benefit of my daughter (and my ego), I thought I’d shed some light on what a startup CEO actually does.
Since I’m completely under-qualified to write an original post on what makes a great CEO, I thought I’d share Fred’s words instead:
A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.
I wish it was that simple…
Especially in the very beginning, the startup CEO must wear dozens of hats. Not only must the CEO set the vision, find talent, and fund the venture, he must do menial task after menial task to move the company forward by brute force.
Since it’s an impossibility to work only on these tasks, I’ve interpreted his quote more as an ideal situation rather than a statement of fact. As we’ve grown from 4 to 34 employees in the last 12 months, it’s been crucial for my role as CEO to transition closer to Fred Wilson’s ideal. Brute force no longer works. The CEO must be a visionary leader rather than simply a “doer.”
Going forward, I will strive to spend the majority of my work day focusing on those three tasks. The initial results have been overwhelmingly positive… I’ll keep you posted as I work towards this goal.
Here’s a question for all you experienced CEOs and CEO wannabes — is Fred right? Start the conversation in the comments below.
(John James, M.D., is a physician turned serial Internet entrepreneur. His latest venture is Acumen Holdings, a rapidly growing e-commerce company based in Fayetteville. Each Tuesday, his DoctorPreneur blog will appear in INOV8. Drop him a line in comments.)
John, I completely agree with “it’s an impossibility to work only on these tasks.” But I guess at my stage I am a CEO wannabe, therefore I wear almost every hat. Some are a bit more snug than others. BUT I am trying my hardest to get to the level of “Experienced CEO.” I like your “brute force” comment. If the startup CEO isnt that brute force, then what will be?
Josh, you nailed it. The stage of the company determines when the CEO can begin to transition away from brute force as a modus operandi.
Unfortunately, my tendency is to do tasks myself rather than delegate… that’s a necessity for a 3 or 4 person company, but a terrible use of a CEO’s time in a 30 person company. To achieve scale, the CEO simply must delegate almost everything outside of Fred’s “big three.”
The only button I push on a daily basis (outside of Fred’s three) is a small facet of search engine marketing that simply cannot be delegated (at least at this point.) This core competency is the central piece of our business… I doubt I EVER give up daily control of this button.
[...] of the three things a CEO is responsible for is “recruiting, hiring, and retaining the best talent for his [...]