In a week that sees the launch of our Mentoring Training2 with a talk on leadership and workplace cultures, I find myself reflecting on my role.
Much is written and spoken about leadership and there’s no doubt that to be a CEO you have to lead.
But I have two further questions. What kind of CEO does YOP need and and how do I become it?
Imposter syndrome is real and after all, as a founder, I am a self-appointed CEO. This means I can be doubly hard on myself for not really being a CEO.
This week is also the summation of a lot of hard work by a lot of people that most won’t see. The nature of starting a small business, of any kind, is that you wear lots of different hats. This provides both a wonderful diversity of roles, an opportunity to get under the skin of all aspects of the business and fantastic learning (and failing).
Much of my time is operational. In fact most of my time. I’m a really good project manager, a safe pair of hands and diligent. But am I a CEO, do I want to be one, what kind does YOP need and what kind do I want to be? There are precious few role model CEOs I really aspire to be. Maybe because social enterprises are in fairly short supply.
Ultimately though, it’s probably not sustainable or healthy. And it’s not being a CEO. Making the leap from a one-woman band is one thing, to really becoming CEO and handing over some of the reigns, quite another. And not just financially.
So by handing over large amounts of the operational day to day management, not just a peril in itself, I will be freed up to lead the business. It’s going to be another learning curve and one I want to prove to myself I can do, but I’m also aware that just maybe I can’t!
