Are You a CxO?

Do you wear a lot of hats? How's that working for you? Most business owners and CEOs tell me they don't like it. But they are convinced that performing a constant juggling act is a requirement of the job. You're the one who has to make sure the business keeps moving forward and will do anything at any time to make sure that happens. That's true, but more effective ways exist to reduce the number of hats you wear so you can focus on growing the right things for your business. 

"Managers are there to do things right and leaders focus on doing the right things" -Warren Bennis

As a CxO you have to do both. 

We call business owners with multiple hat syndrome a CxO.  You can replace the "x" with any letter you want. Those are the hats. Sometimes you switch hats every five minutes, depending on what needs to be done that moment. If you find your arms and legs getting tired from rushing over to the hat rack, and the gears in your brain are wearing out from switching so often, your effectiveness and efficiency can't be good. Your employees and customers suffer. Your cash suffers.

In the early stages of your business you stay awake staring at the dark ceiling excited about realizing your vision for your company, solving great problems creatively, leading the cause, and being an entrepreneur. You are in business because you have a compelling need to do something much better than everyone else, or you want to leave a family legacy, or you want to build and sell the business to make lots of money and spend it basking in the sun in the Caribbean or at the golf course. Or you want to make your own decisions and not work for “the man. Whatever drove you to start and build your own business started with a strong passion, an emotional drive that you just couldn’t let go of.

Now, zoom forward two years. If your business still exists (65% of them won’t), you’ve done something right. You probably spent many weeks and months burning the midnight oil. What were you doing that for? Because you like the smell of burning oil? Most likely it was because you were willing to do whatever it took and would spend as much time, hard work and sweat needed to keep your doors open. Passion will drive a person to do that. Its the fuel for tomorrow's economy. 

Gone are the days when your sleepless nights were caused by the excitement to execute on your vision. Now, if you can even find the time to get into bed, you lay there awake worried about employee issues, worried about paying your bills, wishing your cash flow was in better shape (or even existed). You worry that you won’t win that sale you really need. All while your dog is looking at you with sad eyes wondering when you can take a walk together like you used to. During the day your suppliers cause you heart palpitations. Your overhead is, well, way over your head, your customers call and get angry with you for no good reason, while viruses eat your computers to the ground.

This is fun, right? This is not why you went into business in the first place, is it?

You got very good at juggling twenty knives while riding a unicycle on a tightrope. What happened to your vision? How much time do you spend with your customers or on your growth strategy? Probably not much. As your company grows, there are even more things that need to be done, along with all the stuff you're already doing. You have to wear all the hats to get it done. After all it is your business and you refuse to fail. As result, here's what your organizational structure looks like: 

The org chart shows you're the CxO, you report to yourself, and your CxOs have distinct jobs like any company. You work as the chief financial, sales, marketing, operating and information offifer. Only problem is they're mostly you! Your employees look just like your management ranks, wearing many hats depending on the "fire of the moment." 

And here’s what your hat rack looks like:

Some of these CxO hats are a lot of fun, and others are a waste of time for your company. If you find yourself spending more time as a chief crisis officer or chief police officer, you may want to consider your hourly value rate. Make an appointment with yourself for an hour away from interruptions, or go sit in the park with your dog. Spend exactly 60 minutes writing down a list of tasks you do every day. It’s probably a long list, that’s why you need an hour for this. You can establish your own numbers, but for starters assign three values this way: 

High Value = $300/hr.

Medium Value = $75/hr.

Low Value = $12/hr. 

Then think about each task and how much value it has in helping your company achieve its goals. Now go back and label each task H, M or L. If you are an enlightened, laser focused, strictly accountable CEO, you will spend all of your time doing “H” things, even though you’ll feel more comfortable doing many “L” things, like we all do. 

Are you a CxO or a CEO? I hope I’ve given you some knowledge to help you decide. Perhaps we should call it a CHO for chief high-value officer. By the way, CxO To Go^TM executives are professional eXecutives. We help you focus your work on the right things and enable you to spend more time on your high value tasks, like all high value executives should. And now..... I unveil your new organizational chart:

To see how you can make more money, have more of a life, and feel better all the time, call 303.995.4523. Or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

By Marty Koenig, CxO To Go LLC