Most of my day-to-day work with CEO clients is spent designing and optimizing their C-Suite. And most of them are getting the same thing wrong.
So many CEOs are hesitant to change up their senior leadership team according to the evolving needs of their organization’s growth. They have well-intentioned reasons, such as loyalty and morale, but they miss the greater win available for all involved.
I spent 15 years in the C-Suites of Amazon and Google learning and then leading the optimization of powerhouse executive teams to keep up with the rapid growth as we scaled.
At Amazon, Jeff Bezos did what most CEOs are hesitant to do. He regularly shifted around and repositioned his senior leaders where they were needed most – even if that meant removing someone as a direct report for a time.
His most talented SVPs were often asked to take a big chance and move from leading a large team to taking on a brand new big bet with just a handful of teammates. Putting his most talented team members on his biggest bet was the reason for the company’s astronomical success.
If egos had been guarded and talent not redistributed, Amazon’s greatest early wins would have been missed, and careers would have stagnated. Instead, both exploded.
A win-win that many senior leaders miss out on.
I see far too many CEOs hesitant to make changes to their senior leadership team in response to growth needs out of fear.
The C-Suite isn’t one-size-fits-all, nor is it meant to be set in stone.
Tell me about your C-Suite design in the comments! What has worked well for you? What do you think might have become a crutch or a hindrance?
#leadership #scale #growth #strategy #culture
