The CEO’s Job: Building Relationships & Securing Future Resources

One of the biggest mis­con­cep­tions about the CEO role is that it’s pri­mar­i­ly about solv­ing prob­lems. But the best CEOs I know — those who keep their com­pa­nies grow­ing decade after decade — spend far less time in the weeds of prob­lem-solv­ing and far more time cul­ti­vat­ing the rela­tion­ships and resources their orga­ni­za­tions will need in the future.

I often say: A CEO’s most impor­tant job is ensur­ing tomorrow’s resources are secured today. That means invest­ing in:

• Peo­ple – attract­ing, devel­op­ing, and retain­ing lead­ers who are ahead of where the com­pa­ny is now. (Like Angela San­ti­a­go at The Lit­tle Pota­to Com­pa­ny, who brought in tal­ent beyond her means at the time because she knew where the com­pa­ny was headed.)
• Part­ner­ships – forg­ing alliances that open doors to new mar­kets, cus­tomers, and capabilities.
• Capa­bil­i­ties – build­ing sys­tems, process­es, and struc­tures that scale well beyond the present needs of the business.

This is not glam­orous, nor is it urgent in the day-to-day sense. But it is the essence of lead­er­ship. As Brent Par­ent, CEO of Total Fleet Solu­tions, once told his team: 

In my upcom­ing book, The 4 Forces of Growth, I share more about Brent as a leader and intro­duce the four forces that shape every company’s tra­jec­to­ry: Oppor­tu­ni­ties, Prob­lems, Courage, and Fear. It’s a sim­ple but pow­er­ful lens for CEOs to eval­u­ate where they’re invest­ing their ener­gy and capital. 

If you want sus­tain­able growth, you can’t just fix prob­lems or fight today’s fires. You need the com­bi­na­tion of focus on oppor­tu­ni­ties and the courage to pur­sue them, and the dis­ci­pline to keep invest­ing and iter­at­ing until you cre­ate the growth oppor­tu­ni­ties you desire.

The best CEOs don’t just man­age today. They build for tomorrow.

The Chal­lenge

When you look at your cal­en­dar and where your ener­gy goes, are you spend­ing enough time cul­ti­vat­ing rela­tion­ships and resources for the future — or are you stuck in today’s problems?

Resources

• Use the Prin­ci­ple of Two Cir­cles to Make Bet­ter Choices
• What Would Hap­pen if You Spent Anoth­er 10% of Your Time on Growth?
• The 4 Forces of Growth
• Pre­view the upcom­ing book The 4 Forces of Growth