Common CEO Mistakes

Mandating Accountability Instead of Modeling It

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Cheryl B. McMillan.

“From now on, we WILL have a culture of accountability!” says Fred, the CEO of ABC Company at his monthly Executive Team meeting. His team looks at each other and they roll their eyes. They know something that Fred doesn’t: accountability starts with him, and he doesn’t have a clue…

Ignoring the Danger of Incremental Change

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Cheryl B. McMillan.

A Blinding Flash of the Not So Obvious Frank, is the founder and owner of WidgetsRUs which is 20 years old and in perpetual growth mode. Frank is a typical entrepreneur; optimistic and full of ideas. To finance growth, Widgets needs cash; lots of it. Before the last recession, Frank…

Abdication Instead of Delegation

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Cheryl B. McMillan.

For many reasons, CEO’s find themselves doing work that others can and should be doing. That’s not the mistake that I will discuss here, though. This blog will focus on mistakes leaders make when they attempt to delegate work but actually abdicate it. Most Common Scenario: Over his morning…

Avoiding Difficult People Issues

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Cheryl B. McMillan.

During a meeting with a couple of other Vistage Chairs, we were discussing the most common mistakes we see CEO’s make. This is the first, in a series, about them. Avoiding Difficult People Issues “If I didn’t have to deal with people, my job would be easy!” My members and…

Barrier Busting: No Stuffed Shirts!

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Cheryl B. McMillan.

In my previous post, I talked about organizational barriers. Here is a personal experience that illustrates how one Senior Manager quickly erected them. I was hired to bring the accounting functions of two large healthcare organizations together. “Merger babies” was the unofficial title for new employees hired during this…