Why CEOs should think like sports coaches

I recently read an insightful book that further crystalized my approach to leadership.
The author explains that for a company to be good, there’s a visionary and key person driving it. But for a company to be great, it needs to be bigger than that person. It needs to be able to thrive without the visionary, with a clear vision and everyone engaged in building it.
My business shouldn’t be the Michael game, even though I’m CEO.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, as I’ll be taking three weeks away from the business for the first time ever (for my charity bike ride in Thailand). It’s been a good reminder to aim for greatness, by building something that’s not heavily reliant on me.
It requires removing the ego and putting the company’s greater good in focus, rather than my individual success. A lot of the work is setting up the culture and systems, then stepping out of the way.
I like to think about it as a sports team. Each position (or ‘seat’ in EOS language) is important, and each person is a specialist. When one person wins, the team wins. No zero-sum games, no hierarchies.
As the CEO, I’m the coach. I’m not trying to play all the positions. I strategize and coach on how we play, from a bird’s eye view, engaged from the sidelines.
If you’re leading a team, get clear on all the positions/seats, determine what a high-performing person for each seat looks like, and focus more of your time on coaching the team, not jumping in to save the game. That will only lead to a self-conscious team and a burned out CEO.
This is the journey to take, from technician to visionary.
Put this up on your wall:
CEO = Coaching an Excellent Organization.

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