Stephen H Baum Leadership

Jim Blasingame on his morning radio show for small business owners and CEOs made me think (as he always does) and remember stories that may help small business owners. He had just advised his listeners to spend an hour each week out of the trenches, thinking about the direction of the business.

It is my experience that no one in the business knows what the owner knows, no one in the business knows the people the owner knows. The owner has a unique perspective above the fray if he or she chooses to exploit it. Therefore, an owner should ask “What is my job? What can only I do that no one in the company can do?”

That job may be to collect intelligence and insights from the top people at a customer company, to look for a new product to add to the line, to change the pricing structure, to ferret out acquisition opportunities among distressed competitors, to hire someone who will guide the company into a new set of customers, re-negotiate arrangements with money sources, re-structure who has what responsibility, get personally well-known as a “brand” representing your line of business, set a new aspiration and new goals for the business. I gave some examples during the interview which you can find on his website.

Small business brain trust

One owner put it this way: “When I started out, I fight was the owner and managed by the checkbook. As I continued, I had days of conflict with myself as owner vs. CEO (longer term, more strategic thinking leading to investments in the bsuiness). Now i am the CEO, though I still know the details and watch the spending.”

Not to say that the owner is the only source of good ideas. They may come from customers and employees and from the newspaper and web.

The  important decision an owner can make are his time choices. On what do you spend your time? You must routinely work on a “CEO project” that crowds out the daily detail on your calendar. Make a space on the calendar every week (or more frequently) for this project. Make a list of projects that are candidates. Work it like any other project: timeline, milestones, information needed, sources of information.

One final note: Jim and I discussed how few females there are in top and #2 positions. One CEO project can be to find and recruit the very best female executive you can find. Read my prior blog post about Lt. Cdr. Sarah West (Royal Navy) and ask yourself: are there really jobs which cannot be done by a female? Are there not females who are exceptionally qualified who haven’t gotten the opportunity of a lifetime? Can I offer one a path to that opportunity?

Since 2005, I have worked with terrific female CEOs and terrific female Chairs (CEO group leader) in what I see as the best CEO membership organization anywhere:

CEO membership organization

Beside being smart, thoughtful, dedicated, competitive and often tough, they frequently challenge everyone’s thinking with different perspectives. And those who have raised teenagers may also bring a skill-set  I call “parenting at work.”

That’s my view. What’s yours?