top of page

Leadership Lesson: Best Practices for Excellent CEOs

Updated: Sep 19, 2023


The best CEOs are the ones who don't just know how to lead, but also inspire others. They're the ones who can make you want to do things you never thought possible. And they're the ones who know how to motivate people on a personal level.


But what makes a great CEO? What are the best strategies, mindsets, and practices that CEOs use?

To be a good CEO, you must have strong leadership skills, strategic thinking, and a sense of business acumen. In addition, you will need to be able to communicate effectively both with your employees and with your customers.


To be a successful CEO, you need to know the business inside out and be able to make the right decisions in all areas of management. You will also need to motivate your employees and inspire them to do their best work.


The art of being a good CEO is not something that everyone has mastered but there are ways that you can improve your skills as a leader. To help you improve and achieve what it needs to take to become an excellent CEO, here are the best practices.


1. Being a good listener

A CEO needs to have the ability to listen to others and understand their point of view. Listening can help you learn what your employees need in order for them to be more productive and happy at work. Listening also helps you understand customers, which is essential for any business owner as it helps you determine what products or services people want and need.


2. Being open-minded

Being open-minded is necessary for a CEO because it allows him or her to consider all options when making decisions concerning the company’s future. It also allows him or her to take time before making important decisions so that he or she can make better ones. The goal of this practice is not only to make better decisions but also to ensure that these decisions are made carefully so they don’t negatively affect the company or its employees.


3. Be Transparent With Your Employees

Being transparent with your employees is vital in building trust between you and them. If they know what is going on with the company and how it impacts them personally, they will be more motivated to work hard for you. This can also help prevent issues from arising within the company because everyone will know where they stand when it comes to their role within the company.


4. Delegate Responsibilities

As a CEO, it may seem like there is too much work for you to do alone. However, delegating responsibilities allows other employees within your company to step up and take ownership of certain tasks so that they can learn on their own time rather than having to wait for you to get around to giving them instructions on what needs doing next. This will also free up more time for yourself so that you can focus on growing your business further while still maintaining control over it at all times.


5. Don’t micromanage

Micromanaging can cause more harm than good when it comes to leading a team. It may feel like it’s helping at first but in the long run, it will only cause problems with productivity because employees will feel like they don’t have any freedom or control over their work. As a leader, it is important to trust your employees enough so that they know what needs to be done and when they need to get it done without having to check in constantly on them or make sure they are doing things correctly each time they do something new.


6. Build relationships with your employees

You need to understand what makes your employees tick and get to know them on a personal level. This will help you better understand their needs and concerns, which will make it easier for you to address their issues and concerns when they arise.


7. Be supportive of your employees' ideas, even if they're not the same as yours or your team's, but don't expect them to all be good ideas either

If they're bad ideas, tell them so and help them come up with better ones instead of just dismissing them outright without giving them any real feedback on what went wrong with their idea in the first place so that they don't keep making the same mistakes over and over again when trying to come up with new ideas for themselves in the future!


8. Be clear on your vision and mission

A lot of people think that being a CEO means having all the answers but this is not true at all. What you need is a clear vision of where you want your company to go and what you want it to become. Your mission statement should be short and concise but it should also cover all aspects of running a company including customer service, marketing, operations etc. Once you have this down then all decisions will follow from there.


9. Encourage creativity

This is one of the most important aspects that every company needs in order to grow successfully in today's competitive market. In order to encourage creativity among employees, you need to set up an environment where people can feel comfortable being themselves and expressing their ideas freely without worrying about being judged or criticised by others in the office. You also need to provide incentives for employees who come up with innovative ideas and give them all the support they need so that they can see these ideas come true in real life instead of just remaining as an idea on paper forever.


10. Be an effective communicator

As CEO, you will be communicating with people all the time. Whether you are sending emails to employees or giving speeches in front of crowds, your words should be honest and straightforward. If you have bad news to announce, do it in person rather than letting someone else break the news for you. If there is something positive happening at your company, make sure that everyone knows about it too!


Keep in mind that as a CEO, you should be able to provide direction, set strategy and make decisions that will help the company reach its goals. But they are also responsible for maintaining a healthy work environment, which includes managing employees and overseeing day-to-day operations.


And remember that becoming an excellent CEO takes time, effort and experience. You should always thrive to continuously improve yourself in terms of knowledge, mindset, network, power, and authority.

bottom of page