A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ
IT’S TIME TO FIRE YOURSELF
Being an entrepreneur oftentimes means owning your own business. You start a business, build strategy, create a sales funnel, hammer out some systems, generate revenue, manage your expenses, and drive to deliver a profit. Along the way you solve problems, break through ceilings, overcome challenges, get creative, adjust and pivot when needed.
This can go on for five years, a decade, fifteen years, two decades. All the while, you as the founder and entrepreneur sit in the decision making seat. You are in effect the founder and CEO of the business. You make decisions based on your perspective. You approach things with your frame of mind as well as the frameworks that you have learned and adopted.
No one is there to fire you, because after all, you are the CEO. But just for a moment, imagine if you were to be fired. Imagine that there is a board that could remove you from your current role, and bring in a new CEO. What type of leader would that board be looking for? Who would they bring in to lead the organization and hold it accountable to the profit targets of the business.
This hypothetical tactic is perhaps one of the best things we could do in order to ask ourselves the right questions related to our business. Imagine that someone incredible talent was brought in to step into your role.
What does that person look like? Not physically, but what characteristics would that new CEO have?
What qualities would be dominant in that replacement?
If a new CEO was brought in next week, what decisions would they make right away?
What decisions do you think they would make after they got to know the organization?
What do you think that person would do differently from what you are currently doing?
What would that person eliminate that you have continued to do?
What would that person start to do immediately that you have avoided doing up to this point?
What would they list as preventing future success?
What would that person say you should do more of?
This intellectual exercise will allow you to step out of the day to day - of what at times can become reactionary leadership. This week imagine you are no longer the founder, CEO, or leader of your business. Imagine that after an exhaustive search a new CEO has been selected to lead the next phase of your legacy business. Go through the questions above. Within the questions are probably all of the answers you have been searching for and that your business needs.
Chris Suarez