Hi Gini,
I am not a CEO and i do not have any experience with CEO`S. I am just a kid about to graduate from college in a few months. I read the post and it was really great reading it. The points are real good.
Adding to your points, I think it is always important how you treat your employees, the way treat creates a sort of respect on your part. If you are like yelling at them and what ever, they feel like this " its my fate that i am working under her". If you give them a bit of boost like " good work done", they will try to better. I can say that a compliment is better than a million bucks for your employee. I just felt really happy reading the comments. I really think customers have to be dealt in face to face.Leadership is based on how much you well you can lead a team, not on how well you can control them. I am too young to talk abouts debts and stuff. I feel that the worst employee you can rather image can be turned into a shining diamond by just polishing. Here, the polishing is the encouragement and stuff you give him to do better. It is sometimes good to scold in case of mistakes and assume that the guy will correct it next time. I can not speak anymore. It was a great post altogether. Thanks .

Working ON your business, not IN your business to me is the hardest part. These are my two faves:

•If our clients aren’t happy and want me working on their accounts, it’s because I haven’t done my staff coaching and mentoring job well enough.

•My time is best spent on innovation, coaching and mentoring staff, landing the whales, and being the face of the company.

Thanks, as always, for sharing.

Gini,

Having also run a manufacturing business, I would add only one more Incontrovertible Law: Nothing is More Important Than Your Customer. Everything begins with what your customer needs, or perceives they need.

Satisfy those needs and you'll potentially have a successful company. Fail to meet those needs (which, by the way, may never actually be mentioned) and you're guaranteed to fail.

And its corollary: Nothing Takes the Place of Meeting Your Customers Personally. You can't truly understand what your customers' needs are if you don't meet them face to face and listen to their stories. Do it regularly and you'll have nothing but raving fans and enough ideas to fuel your innovation machine for years.

But I have the feeling you already know these rule intimately.

Gini -

Great, great tips! I really resonated with the it's ok to say no if it's not one of your main responsibilities as a CEO.

I have a hard time saying no to people - whether they be friends or clients. If I could do it and it was asked of me, I'd try my best to do it. Worked out horribly! I hated the tasks and didn't have time to do the things that really mattered. So, I stopped taking requests if they weren't what I do best or be interested in learning/expanding my services in. Much happier and productive for it!

And yes, even as an entrepreneur, I know cash is king. Cash talks in a way credit just doesn't. Makes people stand up and listen.

Gini,

This post is one I'll be sending to my small business clients. Making the shift to CEO can be challenging. One of the biggest difficulties small business owners face when shifting from being the technical expert to being the CEO of their business is trusting themselves.

Trusting yourself lays the groundwork for hard decisions, noticing when you sabotage yourself, delegating things that aren't the best use of your current skills (or interests) and acting as a genuinely positive model and mentor to everyone in the company. Actually the list could go on and on.

I wish you every success and I look forward to hearing how Arment Dietrich does with you at the helm. My guess is you're going to do all right!

Gini, that is great advice. I am working full-time for a high-tech company, and also working on a couple of start-ups. Your leadership tips are greatly appreciated.

Also, to the comments about hiring smarter people, that has been Google’s mantra. The Google Way speaks to that. Google managers hire people smarter than them. And yes, while you must gauge their arrogance, there is nothing wrong with confidence to do a job well.

One question I do have (to both Danny and Gini and anyone else that could answer): How do you know how large (in terms of employees) your company should be? How do you know when to hand off tasks that are getting too cumbersome for you to do daily? I find myself in that position often. Doing it myself, but doing too much. I know to be a leader, it’s important to train, mentor, and hand off tasks to your employees. When do you do that?

I will be referring back to this list again and again until I no longer need to. I'm a freshly minted CEO and appreciate such a well-thought-out barometer that examines the role from so many different perspectives.

Thank you Gini, inspirational and extremely useful pointers indeed.
I'm about to go after a GM role with a company which I have actually been a customer of for a few years. This position will involve me guiding a team slightly larger than I'm used to, which if I'm honest is going to be my biggest challenge. You have however put this and some other key factors in context very succinctly for me with some excellent fundamentals to focus on. I find myself reading everything to do with management and this has very much resonated with me, so thank you.

Thanks Gini for sharing this.

For sure can relate to "Bad news does not go away and it does not get better with age; no matter how much I hate conflict, sometimes it’s worse in my head than it is in reality"...

Last year I made a comment here on Danny's blog about a little wicked mole I have out in my yard. I learned that if you keep follow someone that don't really see where they are going, you kind of end up going in the same direction. And you just end up making the problem bigger. Though some suggested a snake would solve my problem I followed my gut and realized my dog could do the job. I might had found the solution earlier if I had the dog whisperer here.

Now I need start learn how to fish for whales.

I digged the info on Spin Sucks - cool to see some Hotel articles there also.

Cheers.. Are

Hello There Gini!

What a breath of fresh air! PLUS...you're a whole lot better looking than Danny!

You very elegantly cover things that I had to learn at the ripe old age of 25 (33 years ago). I had started a home health care company at a very opportune time (through no conscious planning on my part) and almost instantly had 85 employees, 6 locations and the beginnings of an ulcer.

What you say...if you can make yourself actually do them on a routine and unthinking basis...will serve both you AND your company well.

My best to you, thanks for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate them.

Dennis Lively

Engagement/connection/transparency - I *love* that!

When I'm in this space, I really find those deeper connections. And in the end of the day, that's really what it's all about for me - the connections I have with others. (well, that...and when I really *feel* that I've made a difference) (...and found a place for fun and laughter in my day...)

Great stuff!

Gini,

As an owner of a less than year old company your list rings true. I've led hundreds before and been responsible for millions of dollars worth of money and equipment but starting from the ground up is different. It feels like I have little room for error.

But we're moving along slowly but surely.

-Matt

Aunti Gini- I feel a bit bad calling you that because you look much younger than me in this photo.

I am no CEO but when I read your lessons (yes not learnings :), I think many are very relevant to us smaller entrepreneurs.

Thanks for showing us that being a CEO is no walk in the park and that CEO's are people to.

Hi Gini,
Nice read, great attitude.
I like the way you prioritized the things that are truly important to you and in running your business…Working smart, not hard and people.
I enjoyed it so much that I have posted a link to your article here so that I can come back to it and read it from time to time http://www.acoollink.com/helpful-business-related-....
I work as a consultant and I own a startup business so I enjoy soaking up words of wisdom when I can.
Here is an article I wrote on attitude. http://www.acoollink.com/salesman-consultant

Hi Gini,

What a warm CEO-savvy post without the CEO attitude.

I love that in listing the ways you spend your time, you list “innovation” first. I suspect that may surprise many people as a priority for a PR firm. I also like that you mention the too-little-said but far saner reality that PR firms can and do work with each other.

The above and Spinsucks.com make you one of the people(along with Mr. DB here of course) changing the profession's reputation from PR as “these PR people will do anything for attention” to PR as in “People Rock!”. From one competitor CEO to another: Hope you land some snow whales today! ;-)

Hi Gini,
I am not a CEO and i do not have any experience with CEO`S. I am just a kid about to graduate from college in a few months. I read the post and it was really great reading it. The points are real good.
Adding to your points, I think it is always important how you treat your employees, the way treat creates a sort of respect on your part. If you are like yelling at them and what ever, they feel like this " its my fate that i am working under her". If you give them a bit of boost like " good work done", they will try to better. I can say that a compliment is better than a million bucks for your employee. I just felt really happy reading the comments. I really think customers have to be dealt in face to face.Leadership is based on how much you well you can lead a team, not on how well you can control them. I am too young to talk abouts debts and stuff. I feel that the worst employee you can rather image can be turned into a shining diamond by just polishing. Here, the polishing is the encouragement and stuff you give him to do better. It is sometimes good to scold in case of mistakes and assume that the guy will correct it next time. I can not speak anymore. It was a great post altogether. Thanks .

Working ON your business, not IN your business to me is the hardest part. These are my two faves:

•If our clients aren’t happy and want me working on their accounts, it’s because I haven’t done my staff coaching and mentoring job well enough.

•My time is best spent on innovation, coaching and mentoring staff, landing the whales, and being the face of the company.

Thanks, as always, for sharing.

Customers? What are those?? :)

I totally agree nothing replaces the face-to-face meeting with your customers. We can try, but it's just not the same.

Gini,

Having also run a manufacturing business, I would add only one more Incontrovertible Law: Nothing is More Important Than Your Customer. Everything begins with what your customer needs, or perceives they need.

Satisfy those needs and you'll potentially have a successful company. Fail to meet those needs (which, by the way, may never actually be mentioned) and you're guaranteed to fail.

And its corollary: Nothing Takes the Place of Meeting Your Customers Personally. You can't truly understand what your customers' needs are if you don't meet them face to face and listen to their stories. Do it regularly and you'll have nothing but raving fans and enough ideas to fuel your innovation machine for years.

But I have the feeling you already know these rule intimately.

Gini -

Great, great tips! I really resonated with the it's ok to say no if it's not one of your main responsibilities as a CEO.

I have a hard time saying no to people - whether they be friends or clients. If I could do it and it was asked of me, I'd try my best to do it. Worked out horribly! I hated the tasks and didn't have time to do the things that really mattered. So, I stopped taking requests if they weren't what I do best or be interested in learning/expanding my services in. Much happier and productive for it!

And yes, even as an entrepreneur, I know cash is king. Cash talks in a way credit just doesn't. Makes people stand up and listen.

Hi Gini -- you've covered the following three things in your list -- but I'm just going to say them differently.

Without Vision - people perish, and so will your company. You need to have the big picture - the who, what, where and why -- and how they relate to your immediate and long term future.

Effective Leadership - people, personalities and leading the motley crew... sometimes little things like ego's, politics and foolishness can bog down big aspirations and progress -- you need to effectively manage those people/personalities [the crew] and keep them focused on the bigger things at hand.

Responsiblity - leading anything requires your willingness to be responsible for everything. It's lonely at the top.

There I said it and didn't even use profanity (haha)

Man -- your face is plastered all over the internet - people must think your pretty cute :)

Hi Gini
I'm never likely to be CEO but I have worked for some good guys.

The stand out quality was that I wanted to do a good job for them.
They were all obviously in charge but I admired them, I respected them, guess I felt safe with them at the helm.

Difficult to put rules to good CEOing, but we all know a good CEO when we work for them.

Gini,

This post is one I'll be sending to my small business clients. Making the shift to CEO can be challenging. One of the biggest difficulties small business owners face when shifting from being the technical expert to being the CEO of their business is trusting themselves.

Trusting yourself lays the groundwork for hard decisions, noticing when you sabotage yourself, delegating things that aren't the best use of your current skills (or interests) and acting as a genuinely positive model and mentor to everyone in the company. Actually the list could go on and on.

I wish you every success and I look forward to hearing how Arment Dietrich does with you at the helm. My guess is you're going to do all right!

Gini, that is great advice. I am working full-time for a high-tech company, and also working on a couple of start-ups. Your leadership tips are greatly appreciated.

Also, to the comments about hiring smarter people, that has been Google’s mantra. The Google Way speaks to that. Google managers hire people smarter than them. And yes, while you must gauge their arrogance, there is nothing wrong with confidence to do a job well.

One question I do have (to both Danny and Gini and anyone else that could answer): How do you know how large (in terms of employees) your company should be? How do you know when to hand off tasks that are getting too cumbersome for you to do daily? I find myself in that position often. Doing it myself, but doing too much. I know to be a leader, it’s important to train, mentor, and hand off tasks to your employees. When do you do that?

All I can say besides this being a great and honest post, is you have it lucky young lady. CEO is nothing. Try being Chief Alien someday. Not as easy or glamorous as it sounds. But one day, if you work hard enough, you may earn your Star Fleet Commanders Badge if I sponsor you with the Emperor.

Great tips from a great gal!

I will be referring back to this list again and again until I no longer need to. I'm a freshly minted CEO and appreciate such a well-thought-out barometer that examines the role from so many different perspectives.

Thank you Gini, inspirational and extremely useful pointers indeed.
I'm about to go after a GM role with a company which I have actually been a customer of for a few years. This position will involve me guiding a team slightly larger than I'm used to, which if I'm honest is going to be my biggest challenge. You have however put this and some other key factors in context very succinctly for me with some excellent fundamentals to focus on. I find myself reading everything to do with management and this has very much resonated with me, so thank you.

What an awesome, awesome post. The first 3 things in the list are probably the most important. Well, I guess the same could be said for all of it, but I know for me personally as a multiple small business owner, it took me a little longer to realize a few of those things. Abusing cash when young in business is easy, I now clearly know that Cash is King.

Thanks Gini for sharing this.

For sure can relate to "Bad news does not go away and it does not get better with age; no matter how much I hate conflict, sometimes it’s worse in my head than it is in reality"...

Last year I made a comment here on Danny's blog about a little wicked mole I have out in my yard. I learned that if you keep follow someone that don't really see where they are going, you kind of end up going in the same direction. And you just end up making the problem bigger. Though some suggested a snake would solve my problem I followed my gut and realized my dog could do the job. I might had found the solution earlier if I had the dog whisperer here.

Now I need start learn how to fish for whales.

I digged the info on Spin Sucks - cool to see some Hotel articles there also.

Cheers.. Are