By Adam Bryant & Kevin Sharer
Review: The CEO Test: Master the Challenges that Make or Break ALL Leaders
If the thought of tests gives you the heebie jeebies, don’t let that fear keep you from reading The CEO Test by Adam Bryant and Kevin Sharer. As the authors note, this is not like an SAT test or being tried by a mountain climb. Rather, it is recognizing five challenges common to all leaders and learning how to overcome them.
About the authors:
Adam Bryant, a former journalist and present managing director of The ExCo Group, a leadership development and mentoring firm, is also the author of The Leap to Leader and other books to help business leaders reach their best. Kevin Sharer has a storied leadership resume including Lieutenant Commander on the Navy’s fast-attack submarines, former CEO of Amgen, the largest biotech company in the world, and Harvard Business School professor.
The book in a sentence (or two):
The authors want to help leaders everywhere to “move faster and further along their leadership learning curve” by applying seven lessons they have gleaned from interviews with hundreds of leaders across multiple businesses.
My quick take on The CEO Test: 5 Stars
☆ Research-based (qualitative): Hundreds of interviews with CEOs. See pages
4-9 for a brief overview of their methodology.
☆ Empathetic: Acknowledges the challenges and pitfalls of leading at the C-Suite level.
☆ Thought-Provoking: Made me stop and assess my leadership multiple times.
☆ Practical: Great application to my role as a college president.
☆ Readable: Easy to digest but not cotton candy.
Overview and Analysis:
Bryant and Sharer got my attention in the introduction by the way they described themselves. “Though our backgrounds are very different, we are both wired as pattern spotters” (italics mine). As a reader and lover of history, that appellation resonated. The authors don’t eschew quantitative research; however, they felt their purpose was better served by identifying response patterns to a series of six questions they posed to each leader (see pages 4-5). The result is a highly insightful and equally practical leadership tool. Here are the seven challenges every leader must face and work to overcome in order to lead effectively, especially if they serve – or desire to – as the CEO:
Test 1 – Can you develop a simple plan for your strategy?
Simplifying complexity is a leader’s superpower.
Test 2 – Can you make the culture real—and matter?
It’s about walking the talk.
Test 3 – Can you build teams that are true teams?
They are the key to driving the strategy.
Test 4 – Can you lead transformation?
The status quo is enormously powerful, and it is the enemy of change.
Test 5 – Can you really listen?
Danger signals can be faint, and bad news travels slowly.
Test 6 – Can you handle a crisis?
Avoid the predictable mistakes that trip up so many leaders.
Test 7 – Can you master the inner game of leadership?
The conflicting demands and challenges must be managed.
My Takeaways:
No cookie-cutter leaders: “How you lead is going to depend broadly on three things: (1) Your experience, capabilities, and personality,” (2) the individual and collective capabilities and personalities of the people you’re leading, (3) the context in which you’re leading (small or big team? Startup or legacy company? Turnaround or hypergrowth?”) (7)
The leader’s superpower: Simplify! Leaders must create a clear and simple plan to get everyone moving in the same direction. Simplifying complexity is the leader’s job! p. 14 Doing this answers two key questions: (1) What should I be working on? (2) Why is it important? Deliver the key idea, the core message in one line (21), the plan in one page (29). Repetition is essential. Be relentless in repeating the simple plan (31).
Your toughest challenges deserve your best people(23).
Focus on outcomes, rather than priorities (25). – Rather than “What are we going to work on?” ask, “What are we going to accomplish?”
On values: Wring values is articulating what is already in the company. These become the handles everyone uses when they walk into work (45). The concept of “articulating” vs “writing” is what struck me. Articulating is very deliberate. Satya Nadella challenged Microsoft to move from a culture of “know it alls” to a culture of “learn it alls” (48). Consider building a curriculum around each of the values (54).
On teams: What does success look like for the leadership team as a whole, rather than what are the individual members of the team delivering on their own? (69).
Three signs somebody is not ready for the next growth stage (David Politis): (1) When the CEO sees things in their lane of the business they do not (2). When the individual expresses a lack of confidence in their own ability (3). When the individual continually needs to hire more people than others need (73-74).
The “golden age” team test: Bruce Gordon, former CEO of Disney, notes that there are only a few times (he had three during 30 years at Disney) when every player on the team is aligned with strategy, goals, values, and objectives and are also very good in their own right. This was a helpful reminder. It is easy to get discouraged or frustrated when a team, which will always have comings and goings, must continually work through various dynamics to gel and considering that it will generally have stronger and “weaker” players (75).
Teams must work east-west: “We work east-west is a reminder to the team members to work through problems together first, to the degree they can, before escalating them 'north' to [the CEO) to solve” (81).
The CEO is both coach and talent scout (86-87). A key question to ask is, “What is the team we will need 2 to 3 years from now?” (89).
On leading transformation: Enlist allies, clarify what is not going to change, engage your team and others, be transparent and communicate, ensure commitment is shared by the CEO and top leadership, acknowledge the uncertainty (93).
On listening:
The single defining characteristic of every underperforming company we went after was that the CEO had walled himself off from any kind of skepticism. Nell Minow, former principal of Lens (125).
Kelly Grier of Ernst & Young: “If you haven't created a culture or an environment where people feel free to challenge you as the leader, you are in a very perilous and dangerous place, because you will have blind spots” (129).
“If you really want to know what’s going on, you get out there and you listen to folks on the front lines.” Susan Story, Former CEO, American Water (132).
To improve your listening ability, utilize W.A.I.T. in conversations: “Why Am I Talking?” (134).
Create structures that tell people you want to hear what they are thinking (137).
On crisis:
Leaders need to be more visible than usual during times of crisis, because they need to set the tone through their words, deeds, and body language. Indeed, it is important for leaders to show their human side in these moments. Tim Ryan p. 146-147, see also p. 151.
“The single biggest mistake that leaders make in dealing with the crisis is that they go beyond what they really know.” Tom Strickland, partner, Wilmer Hale, p. 157: “Once in a crisis, how would you reimagine the company if you were starting it now, based on what you think the new normal will be once the crisis ends?” Pam Fields, executive mentor, the ExCo Group (153).
In a crisis: (1) Understand the facts, (2) Act fast, (3) Communicate widely, (4) Fix the root cause of the problem, (5) Stay calm and project confidence (163-64).
On the inner game of leadership: “The [leaders] I'm most impressed with do not seem packaged. They have the sense of peace, this self-awareness, that says, ‘I understand who I am,’” James Hackett, former President and CEO, Ford Motor Company. The authors conclude with a series of paradoxical statements, both of which describe effective leaders. The key is “balance,” which I think is a poor word, a better description would be “live in the tension of both.” (1) Be Confident and Humble, (2) Be Urgent and Patient, (3) Be Compassionate and Demanding, (4) Be Optimistic and Realistic, (5) Read the Weather and Set the Weather, (6) Create Freedom and Structure.
On authenticity: As I noted above, I appreciate the author's approach in that there is a certain sense of authenticity in both their research and writing. They conclude their book by emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the pressures that come with the job. In doing that, they emphasized that the nature of stress is cumulative. I thought that was a very important point. They note, “people do their best work when they are treated more like volunteers than mercenaries. Everybody is struggling with something in their lives, an ailing parent, a child having difficulties at school, a marriage under strain, and there are moments when understanding and appreciation are more important than a tough conversation about meeting next quarter's target. Compassion isn't about being soft; It's about acknowledging that we are all human. The tricky balance for leaders is to know when to push and when to be empathetic” (176).
Recharge yourself: “You need to make time for the activities that give a sense of self renewal and inspiration whether that's from nature, art, movies, or a spiritual practice. It is about being constructively selfish, to know what you want and what you need to restore your emotional resilience to take on the demands of work” (187).
The author piqued my curiosity about these books:
Brenneman: Right Away & All at Once
Thomas Gryta & Ted Mann, Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric
Words to ponder:
Leadership is about succeeding through others. Shifting to this mindset can be difficult (186).
The Swiss Army Knife of Leadership: “[The] ability to simplify complexity is a necessary time-management tool, a kind of Swiss Army Knife of leadership that will make you more effective and more efficient by quickly bringing clarity to complex subjects that are fraught with ambiguity and risk…” (13-14).
Ray Krock: “If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase ‘quality, service, cleanliness, and value,’ I think I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic” (18).
Team effectiveness: “We debate like we’re right, listen like we’re wrong, and then decide, commit, and lead together” (81).
Utilize the CEOs prerogative: To determine what gets (and doesn’t) time on the agenda. The team leader sets clear agendas for meetings (85).
The leader’s legacy: “Your legacy is ultimately determined by two simple tests: Is the enterprise better on the day you left than when you took over? And how does your successor perform?” Kevin Sharer (88).
Your team and transformation: One lesson is that different stages of a company attract different risk profiles and different kinds of people (110).
Problems: Problems rarely get better with age (123).
Being clear about transparent communication: Penny Pritzker, former U.S. commerce secretary on hiring people: I will talk to them about what could get them fired. If you want to get fired, here's what you need to do: first, lie, cheat, or steal. But the other thing that will get you fired is if you have a problem and you keep it to yourself. Problems are going to happen, and it's my job to help you with your problem. What I've learned is that the most troublesome people don't tell you 100% of the story and keep some facts to themselves. They just don't give you the full picture, and that's very worrisome to me.... You need to give them permission to give you bad news” (130)
Remember these are VUCA days (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) (143).
Ambiguity: Many senior executives say that the ability to embrace ambiguity has become the single most important skill that they now look for in their talent pipeline (151).
Creating belief: Our job as managers and leaders is to create belief around what's possible, so everyone stays focused. Anand Chandrasekher, founder and CEO, Aira Technologies (154).
Recommendation:
While the title conveys that the book is for CEOs, it is not. The CEO Test is for every leader who desires to up their leadership prowess and is willing to slow down, admit growth opportunities, and take steps to improve.
I am not alone in my belief that every leader is “a unique edition of one.” The CEO builds on this idea and helps each of us get better at being the best version of ourselves. Despite my attempts to be brief in this review, the level of detail is indicative of how impactful the book was and is for me. I highly recommend it for leaders who sit in C-Suites and for those who don’t.
