Hi Simon.

Promote Yourself to CEO

Whether you lead a small team, a large department or a huge corporation you can promote yourself to CEO. Today. Ok, maybe not Chief Executive Officer, but certainly a different kind of 'CEO' to remind you of three essential things you MUST bring to those you lead. I believe every leader should be three people, all rolled into one. The new 'you', the CEO, is a Catalyst, an Entrepreneur and an Organiser. Three roles you must play. All for one, and one for all!

1. Catalyst
I've always been intrigued by the concept of a Catalyst. In essence a Catalyst is an agent of change. In chemistry it might represent just a small ingredient introduced into a larger mix, yet the Catalyst creates a reaction that far exceeds its size. In fact its presence precipitates change at a greater rate than would otherwise be possible and yet the Catalyst itself is not altered in the process. That's a definition of potent leadership!

CEO Test: Do you create change and accelerate energy in the environment around you without being consumed in the process?

2. Entrepreneur
Every team needs the Entrepreneur to flourish... visionary, risk-taking, bottom-line driven. While the Catalyst brings change, the Entrepreneur never loses perspective on where the team is heading and what defines 'success' for them. While others drown in the details or take off on tangents, to quote Michael Gerber's 'E Myth Revisted' the Entrepreneur 'works on the business not just in the business'. This is not the sole domain of Richard Branson types, the spirit of a pioneering adventurer needs to be found near the core of every leader who hopes to build something great rather than settle for more of the same.

CEO Test: How much time have you personally spent in the last two weeks thinking in a deliberate way about where you are leading your team and how you'll get there?

3. Organiser
It's not sexy, is it? I almost left it out... trying to convince myself that organising is somehow the domain of 'details people' not leaders. And yet you can't have the word 'organisation' without 'organise' can you? To truly organise you have to have a picture of how things should be when you're finished, a master plan. Too many leaders are all ideas, no follow through. The fact is that teams are reassured when the people they follow have a plan not just creativity and charisma. At some point the changes of the Catalyst and the ideas of the Entrepreneur must be grounded in something that gives people an action plan and creates the accountability to see it through.

CEO Test: How much of your communication as a leader is How, Who & When? Or is it all hype and headlines... What & Why?

So here's a final thought. Schedule time in your diary for all three hats to be worn this week. Be the CEO.

And in the chemistry (and even conflict) of those three roles is a truly valuable thing. Untapped potential.

For those of you who communicate to audiences of any size, here are some common traps to avoid...

1) Be absorbed in yourself and how interesting you think you are.

2) Keep talking long after you've communicated your point.

3) Don't have a point.

4) Have 14 points (and 7 sub-points and 2 recaps).

5) Hope people will be equipped and motivated by your content even though you aren't.

6) Use clichés constantly.

7) Ignore visual cues and verbal feedback that you're missing the mark, because hey... you've got the microphone.

8) Communicate only in the style that comes naturally to you.

9) Say all the right words but in monotone, while slouching and avoiding eye contact.

10) Decide you've got nothing to learn about communication.