Here are the Five Promises CEOs Must Make to Themselves

The new year always rings in with new vibes, energy and aspirations. This is true for all individuals and corporate entities. This is also the time many of us make new resolutions. CEOs too resolve to make new beginnings, in terms of programs or policies, for their organizations. Yet there are some resolutions that business leaders may find worth repeating every year as their potential dividends, particularly for their employees and organizations, are huge. Actualized with right spirit, the pledges can enrich and elevate them not only professionally but personally as well.

Here are the five promises CEOs must make to themselves:

1. I will delegate
   CEOs are invested with enormous authority. Armed with the administrative and positional power, they usually take most of the calls or decisions. But this has two pitfalls. The people down the line can easily avoid accountability. The other one, most importantly, is that centralized decision making doesn’t allow organizations to empower and build people. One vital process through which potential of employees can be harnessed for the organization is through effective delegation. CEOs can make a great business by relinquishing the notion of indispensability and the obsession of taking all the credit.
2. I will be feedback-friendly
   The positional power that CEOs command can inflate their ego. And, the ego sadly can mar any propensity they might have to get suggestions, input or feedback from employees and stakeholders. Against this pattern, when CEOs become feedback-friendly, they demonstrate in action their two traits, one is openness to new ideas, and the second is humility to listen and learn. So, irrespective of the rank of the person giving feedback, and irrespective of the taste of the feedback, soft or harsh, CEOs must proactively seek feedback.
3. I will seek inclusivity
   Being close to employees is not inclusivity, being together is! Inclusion helps employees bring their whole selves to work. For that to happen, CEOs themselves need to act as inclusive leaders. Mere intent to foster inclusion won’t work or create impact. Walking in the shoes of diverse groups, and being an integral part of their world can build trust and togetherness. At a time, when the new demands and aspirations for equity and flexibility have posed fresh challenges for organizations in terms of attracting and retaining talents, inclusivity assumes critical importance.
4. I will take right action in time
   Quite often some good thoughts and ideas strike business leaders. But they make delays in acting upon them. Fact is, the action implemented today can yield multiple benefits to them in terms of not only personal satisfaction but for building healthy relationships, trust, and wealth as well, for the organization. By deferring a right action “now”, CEOs would undervalue the present, which is in their control and full of possibilities, and overvalue the future, which is not in their control and full of uncertainties.
5. I will create leaders
   Having attained material and professional success themselves, CEOs need to be generous to impart their skills and share their experiences and learnings to the people next in line to build their capabilities. Great leaders leave a glorious legacy which is defined not by the pay package they had commanded or the designations they held, but by the way they built people and created new leaders. Surely, CEOs themselves would need first to hone the leadership traits to earn respect and trust. As it has truly been said that a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way, CEOs can well imbibe and tread this path to be able to inspire others.

Let the promises be fulfilled in the New Year, and thereafter, year after year!

Written by Ram Krishna Sinha.
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