What is the top issue on the mind of CEO’s of scaleup companies that they want to resolve? Right now?
What’s the first thing you think of?
If you said “growth” or “profitability,” you’d be in good company. That’s what most people say. But neither of these is the top issue. Can you guess what it is?
When we surveyed our CEO clients recently, I was somewhat surprised to see what the number one issue was. And then again, I felt in my gut it could be a major concern, based on the years of CEO mentoring I have done. But I didn’t expect my instincts to be validated by the data.
What was the number one item top of mind for these CEO’s? One that was so important, they were willing to prioritize working on it ahead of growth or profitability?
It was the internal and personal challenge of making important decisions in a timely manner.
How can we reconcile this with what we hear CEO’s talk about? Everyone knows that CEO”s of early stage companies talk about their goals and concerns, it is mainly related to revenue growth and profitability. Who knew that they are secretly more concerned about decision making—or the lack of it.
Here’s the complete list of top concerns and their relative scores:
Ranking of Top Concerns by CEO’s of Scaleup Companies
I thought it might be a useful thought exercise to come up with a few theories that might help explain the unexpected findings.
Here are my top five:
- CEO’s rightly focus on growth and profitability due to their importance to company health and long-term goals. But they also realize that growth and profitability are outcomes that depend on making the right decisions.
- CEO’s know they are largely dependent on their leadership team and key contributors to deliver revenue and profits. The CEO’s job is to provide leadership, guidance, and inspiration for employees to achieve those goals. However, particularly in small companies, the CEO is the only one who can make the big, important decisions. They own that job responsibility all by themselves.
- As the company grows, CEO’s struggle with the complexity and number of the factors that have to be considered in making decisions. Comparatively, creating and executing plans to achieve revenue and profit goals seems more straightforward.
- CEO’s of scaleup companies increasingly have to make decisions in areas where their experience, and that of their team, is limited or non-existent. Couple this with the fact that there are often critical unknowns in the decision process, and it makes decision making feel very risky.
- Revenue growth and profitability are perennial concerns. Important decisions have a way of making themselves feel urgent. They won’t be ignored. Couple this with fact that CEO’s realize, as difficult and risky as it may be, they must make important decisions on a regular basis, usually quickly, or the company may suffer. This can be a source of significant stress and anxiety for the CEO’s.
What do you think? How does this jibe with your experience as a CEO?
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