Why Smart CEOs Still Need Accountability

Most experienced CEOs don't have a shortage of things they know they should be doing.

Delegate more.

Develop the next generation of leaders.

Deal with the underperforming executive.

Spend more time on strategy.

Build a succession plan.

Stop being the answer to every problem.

Take better care of themselves.

The challenge often isn't knowing what needs to happen.

It's actually doing it.

The CEO Has an Accountability Problem

Most employees have someone who holds them accountable.

The CEO often doesn't.

If you're the owner of the company, who asks why you still haven't addressed the issue you said was your top priority six months ago?

Your employees probably won't.

Your leadership team may not.

Your board might, if you have one, but its role is different.

And it's remarkably easy for an urgent customer issue, employee problem, financial concern, or operational fire to push an important leadership priority into next month.

Then next quarter.

Then next year.

Important and Urgent Aren't the Same Thing

This may be one of the most difficult disciplines of leadership.

The urgent problems announce themselves.

The important ones often don't.

Nobody calls you at 8:00 Monday morning demanding that you develop your succession plan.

Your phone doesn't ring because you haven't spent enough time thinking about strategy.

There's no angry customer demanding that you become better at delegation.

So those priorities wait.

Until something forces them not to.

Accountability Changes Behavior

There is a very different level of commitment created when you look across the table at people you respect and say:

“This is what I'm going to do before we meet again.”

Now you've made the commitment visible.

And when you meet again, someone is going to ask:

“Did you do it?”

If you didn't, the next question may be even more important:

“Why not?”

That's one of the less obvious benefits of a strong peer advisory group.

The group isn't simply there to help you think through problems.

It helps ensure that thinking turns into action.

Who Holds You Accountable?

Consider something important in your business that you have known for months needs to change.

Maybe it's a person.

Maybe it's your organizational structure.

Maybe it's your strategy.

Maybe it's something about the way you lead.

Ask yourself:

If I know this is important, why haven't I done it yet?

Then ask:

Who knows I said I was going to do it, and who is going to ask me whether I followed through?

If the answer is nobody, that may tell you something.

I lead a confidential Vistage peer advisory group for CEOs, Presidents, Owners, and Founders from noncompeting businesses here in New Jersey.

The purpose is straightforward: create a room where accomplished leaders can challenge one another's thinking, make better decisions, and hold one another accountable for what happens next.

If you're curious whether that kind of room would be valuable to you, email me at David.mazer@vistagechair.com

We can spend a few minutes talking about your business and what you're working through, and I can explain how the group works. No commitment required.