From Academy Leadership Affiliate Cor Karaffa
In today’s world, private companies and family run businesses are not going public but instead are being bought by private equity partnerships seeking companies they can streamline and grow with professional management so they can sell them at a premium.
The biggest challenge for a CEO is leading a business that was formerly family owned. The set of values of the existing company will be decidedly different than those of the new leader. The culture of the family owners must be assessed as quickly as possible in order to understand the dynamics of what is being faced by the new leader. It is critical to the long-term health of the business that the “new man in charge” arrives with a clearly articulated personal leadership philosophy to share with all the employees.
If you are the new CEO, having a clear picture of who you are as a leader will enable you to quickly gain the trust of those around you and disarm the employees of their natural fears inherent with a new leader. You need to develop the new culture and energize the organization in the first few days of your tenure. Initially, you will be securitized over every word, action, memo and question you pose. People are naturally skeptical, aloof, fearful and anxious, so anything you can do to disarm their fears as quickly as possible, will go a long way to building the trust that you so desperately need to be successful.
The successful “new guy” becomes visible, shares values, hot buttons, and non-negotiables as soon as possible with direct reports and asks them to do the same with their subordinates. A key to building a winning team is starting off on the right foot and the best way to do that is by sharing early and often on what you are about, in order to quickly win over the hearts and minds of those that work for you. Winning over those around you quickly opens the window shade to the heart and soul of a company so that you can learn quickly what it is about and how you can channel the energy of the organization into a winning team. Remember, you set the stage and you are on-stage from day one, so open the act the right way, by showing folks who you are as a leader.
