7 Habits of Highly Effective CEOs

Today’s corporate leaders are expected to stay on top of their organizations. Highly effective CEOs have several things in common, but adopt these seven habits to emulate their success.

Listen to Yourself

1

Image via iTunes.Apple.com

Many leaders record themselves to improve their oratory skills or modify their tone. By improving self-awareness, you learn to communicate more effectively and you improve your organizational skills.

Use an app like Voice Diary to record thoughts, conversations, or presentations on your smartphone, like the Apple iPhone 6 with voice memo capability and Voice over LTE (VoLTE). You can later access them by searchable keywords on the entry timeline.

Take Responsibility

Own up to your shortcomings and take responsibility for your team. Be quick to apologize and find solutions. Keep your commitments and finish what you start to demonstrate your dedication to the job and to those around you.

Form Employee Advocates

2

Image via Flickr by mslgroup1

If your employees believe in the company they work for, they will defend and promote it. Employee advocacy can increase a company’s social reach to 10 times what the company is able to achieve on its own. People are 92 percent more likely to trust content from people they know. Since 50 percent of employees already post text and pictures about the companies they work for, leaders should work to transform their employees into organic brand advocates through positive culture.

Delegate Lower-Tier Tasks

Top-tier tasks are those that fuel your passion and help you find meaning in your work. Break down your top 25-35 tasks into three groups to differentiate those in which you are highly skilled. Pass on jobs that don’t fall into these groups or that fail to ignite your interest or curiosity.

Form a 3-Month Plan

Break down your schedule into days, weeks, months, and quarters to allocate your time wisely and to differentiate short-term tasks from long-term projects. Form short-term and long-term goals that focus on the tasks most impactful to your position and company success. Choose three top activities for the quarter and create a list of steps required to complete them successfully.

Build Relationships With Key Stakeholders

Make a list of the top 20 stakeholders in your company. This list should include engaged employees, industry influencers, board members, and top customers. Focus on building your relationships with these stakeholders and do everything you can to make them successful. Your value as a leader increases when those around you benefit in a personal way.

Balance Work and Life

Highly effective CEOs understand that financial and commercial success requires a focus on health, financial stability, family, friends, social responsibility and personal time. Many implement work-life balance initiatives in their companies. For example, Colgate is considered a top company for achieving work-life balance by promoting healthy habits and providing assistance with childcare to employees. Google, well known for top company culture, provides on-site healthcare, extended time after childbirth, legal advice, and more, removing barriers to help employees focus on both work and personal life.

Adopting the habits of effective CEOs helps you achieve your goals faster. Continue to focus on self-evaluation and self-improvement to achieve the ever-evolving personal brand of leadership that rises above and beyond expectations.

Blogtrepreneur
 

Blogtrepreneur is a website where busy entrepreneurs learn to strategically use blogging as a way to exponentially grow our business and make more money.