6 Takeaways - When Self-Aware Leaders or CEOs Gather To Collectively Help Each Other

I recently had 18 leaders leave work for one to two days to focus on their self-awareness and leadership skills in my CEO Collective course in Utah.  We had people fly in from multiple states and join the local business owners for training (and the title “Collective” was chosen because I knew the outcome would be better with their input on the topics we would discuss).  I usually do one-on-one CEO bootcamps, but this time, I gathered all of the leaders in a team environment in one location, and I had ‘graduated’ CEOs lead discussions on their areas of expertise (many of them with multiple exits and large financial wins).  

Here’s what I learned as their CEO coach in private, but as a mere agenda time-keeper for the Collective:

1. They sought each other out when it came to partnering or furthering a discussion.  During breaks, they made new ‘friends’ in order to explore a topic from the team segment of the Collective, and in at least 6 cases, construct a new business relationship that would help both parties. This was a beautiful outcome.  In other words, they saw and felt, value in each other and were proactive in gathering information, learning from each other, seeking advice, and wanting to improve themselves.

   
   

2. They commiserated when people were brave and shared their true pains, fears or worries.  They withheld judgment when people shared their needs.  In fact, many heads nodded in agreement with the comments and added their own experiences to support the same points.  Everyone felt comfortable asking and sharing as they were confident in the collective team’s ability to help each other. No question was regarded as trivial, silly or irrelevant.  In fact, they all joined in with additional questions, branching into adjacent and relevant topics.

   
   

3. They asked for help without too much positioning and heavy editing of their spontaneous responses to questions, advice requests, and general pleas for help.  This gave me great satisfaction in knowing that they were confident people practicing self-awareness and self-management.  They understood that the problems they were experiencing were real, not contrived, and that as accomplished professionals, they were going to benefit more from the sharing of the issue than in trying to ‘hide’ their needs.  They understood that, unlike a young 20-something who hadn’t had much work experience, they had accomplished many hard things, and their battle scars gave them the confidence to keep learning and improving by asking for help.  

4. Every CEO is leading with their strengths, but they have weaknesses too, and in this collective, they showed that everyone can be a business founder/starter, and that they don’t all need to be firstborn, type A go-getters.

   1. One CEO was a very technical, software developer-turned-founder.  One leader was a charismatic evangelist who could have been a very successful stand-up comedian.  There were a few very process-oriented leaders, and most of them were very strong in completing tasks.  But some CEOs were quieter than I would have expected.  There were some individuals who talked a lot, and others who spoke rarely, but when they did, it added significant value.  I noticed that they really exhibited life in general - that founders and CEOs of companies are just regular people.  People who are shy or aggressive or verbal processors or analytical, but all of them are business builders.  There is no ‘type’ that defines what kind of person you need to be to be a successful business founder and CEO.  Since I knew them personally, I knew that the one trait they had in common was their ability to take action faster than most people.  Making decisions without complete data, these leaders were more likely to execute on what they felt was right.  They certainly didn’t suffer from analysis paralysis. They were all real with their strengths and weaknesses.

      
      

5. Quality people produce a quality experience

   1. My definition of quality encompasses people who are coming to learn (humble) and share their experiences (generous).  They were already overachievers and could function in ambiguity; otherwise, they wouldn’t have started their businesses.  Clearly, for me, they had to have enough ego to move their business forward, but not be obnoxious and conceited.  Based on the fact that they were smart, good, kind people gathering to learn and improve themselves, the outcome was assured.  It was wonderful to have everyone participate happily.  I don’t think this would have happened without the prerequisite that they be ‘non-turds’.

      
      

6. “Many heads are better than one, or two.”  

   1. A business owner would ask one question.  That elicited tons of conversations.  The amount of information, opinions, recommendations, and general counsel was amazing in quality and quantity.  People wanted to help the CEO ask the question, and they helped each other as some of the responses created useful ancillary topics around the first question.  Inevitably, we would end up having to limit the time around that topic so that we could explore other topics.  But the point was evident - lots of people sharing can make the responses more complete in terms of different perspectives that need to be considered. This is exactly why self-awareness is important in the workplace.

As their CEO coach, at the end of the 2 days, I couldn’t have been prouder.  I was able to get people that I cared for and genuinely loved in a setting outside of work, where they could meet each other and see how fabulous they all were.  I knew the magic of each individual.  I knew their struggles and their strengths.  I understood their capabilities and their dreams.  At the same time, I knew their needs, worries, and concerns for their businesses and families.  By putting them together in a casual, safe, informative gathering (with great food), the thesis I had that they would absolutely all learn from each other truly became a reality.  Like I said, in six cases, they came away with the potential to make seven figure improvements in their sales by partnering with each other.

So maybe I need to do this self-awareness training for leaders more frequently.

Hope to hear what you have experienced in these off-site and mastermind sessions.

With gratitude.

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