Have you ever heard some people introduce themselves as CEO to mean “Chief Empowerment Officer”? I once trained staff of some diplomatic mission four years ago and one of them – a stout, jolly and very participatory gentleman – was internally known as the CEO – Chief Entertainment Officer.
Now, today morning at 6am, Petra, my 8-year-and-9-month old daughter, saw me reading Patrick Lencioni’s book “The Five Temptations of a CEO”. Being the very inquisitive and intelligent girl that she is, she asked, “Daddy, what’s CEO in full?”
Characteristic of me, I probed, “What do YOU think?” And she replied,
“Ha, I don’t know. Maybe C is for Coach. E is for Educator. And O is for Orphan!” 😊
What a way to rethink about the CEO role!
1. COACH:
I am an International Coach Federation (ICF) trained coach by Coach Masters Academy, Singapore. I have come to realize, through both training and personal experience, that as a professional coach, you have to:
- Be a catalyst, holding the hand of those whose awareness needs to be heightened and their learning deepened so that their pace of forward-movement can be quickened.
- Be a “thought-provoker” asking empowering and relevant questions, not providing answers or solutioning!
- Be a mirror, reflecting thoughts and enabling them find sharp clarity along their journey.
- Be a “heart spark“, creating a learning and discovery space through facilitating more of heart-based reflection than head-oriented analysis.
That’s a CEO!
2. EDUCATOR:
My first degree was in the discipline of education… And I’ve done a lot of work in the education sector too. Earlier in my journey, I learnt that to educate has been misunderstood – even by some educationists themselves especially teachers and policy makers!
The word “Educate” comes from “educare” which simply means “drawing out”. To educate, therefore, is to draw out what’s already there, not to pour into as in an empty jar.
The implication of this is that we need to keep reminded that everyone already has innate, divinely-given potential. The work of anyone called an educator is to work with the individual using various means so as to get out what already resides therein.
That’s a CEO!
3. ORPHAN:
This cracked my ribs but also opened my eyes to some reality I’ve been differently sharing with Senior Management Teams of executives in several entities of late. Being a leader (especially in a leadership position) is not fun. It is both hardwork and dangerous. This article isn’t sufficient enough for me to amply explore this huge issue.
But in brief, the leader has to take personal initiative to survive (and later on, thrive). He has to take personal responsibility and wait for no one to help. Help finds the leader along the way. If anything is to work out, he has to work it out. Often he is even the converging point for problems and the subject of storms. He is forced by circumstances to be a problem solver.
Having lost my own father at 12 years of age, the above description sounds like what I went through. And it is not very far away from what I have to now deal with as a CEO, though in a different context!
CONCLUSION:
Enjoy being a CEO by mindset even if you may not officially be one by title. Think of three issues:
- Coach. Facilitate a learning-for-growth process for those in your circle.
- Educate. Enable a potential drawing out environment for those in contact.
- Orphan. Think like an empowered orphan who waits for no one to make things happen.
Go, CEO!
#YouWillManage
| Live . Love . Lead |
