Lessons and wisdom from a CEO

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the CEO of my company’s group of companies, Mr. Harald Weinbrecht, for lunch and managed to get some interesting tips on leadership and management. As he was conversing with my other colleagues, I decided to watch and observe him and get a feel of the person. 

As the top brass, what I managed to see in this man was a friendly, down to earth and most animated character. He was a jovial fellow who was quite straight with his answers and some good humor based on first impressions. 

When I finally managed to pluck enough courage to speak to him, I already knew that I had to make the best of it as possible. Since my responsibilities lie with managing my team, I decided to find out what sort of simple advice I could use in my daily operations.

If there is a special mention, there was one part where he was getting to know everybody and decided to ask me a question, “So, I guess you are the brains behind all the operations being run here?” To be honest, I was caught somewhat unprepared as he was flattering me and I knew that if I did not answer properly, I could get off on the wrong foot (not something you want to do when you are in front of your boss’s boss). 

I quickly retreated to my humble and modest personality and instead answered back, “Oh no! I just coordinate stuff and make sure everything runs smoothly. If anybody deserves credit, it’s my team since I have got smart people working for me so I have less to worry about.” You can bet I was very surprised by him as his immediate response was giving me a hearty laugh and responding with “I LIKE THAT ANSWER!” 

As it turns out, I was following one of his principals which he shared with me later during lunch. As a summary of the lunch interview, I have listed below what I managed to obtain during that precious hour or two and also added in some of my own conclusions and wisdom into the mix.

• Don’t be afraid to talk to anybody. Even though they may be the CEO, treat that person just like how you would treat the next guy. I am serious, he actually said that (probably from the various shyness radiating from my other colleagues around me and probably a bit from myself). Ask questions and take a genuine interest in other people since this will build rapport.
• Find out what you like to do or your passion and continue to do that until you succeed. You will not last long when you are doing something that you do not like. As I have discovered time and time again, through books, articles, seminars and talks with people, passion is the one key ingredient or that fire in the belly that takes people from being average to being awesome. I am not surprised to find that repeated again here during this encounter.
• A leader points his people in a direction. It does not have to be the right direction all the time but a leader has to be confident enough to know that leadership is about pointing out a path where none had existed before. This inspires trust and allows people to rally and get something or anything done at all. While the path may turn out to be a wrong one, it is the duty of the leader to learn from that mistake and move on. At least in a time where nobody rises to the challenge, a leader shows the way. 
• Consider leadership like an inverse pyramid. It is the leaders serving the people under them, not the typical traditional hierarchy where it is the other way around. The questions that the leader should ask are such as “What can I (as management) do for you (workers)?” and “How can I make your job better and allow you to perform to the best of your potential?” This advice is very enlightening as I have read about it before but not really heard them from the mouth of a CEO. Rather than the staff working for the benefit of the boss, this concept flips it on its head literally so that it’s the bosses working for their staff. While this may sound idealistic and probably is, it is nonetheless a good ideal to strive for.
• Definition of leadership – One who takes all the blame and none of the credit. While it may sound crude to those looking for an ego boost every time they climb the ladder, it makes a lot of sense since as you progress higher, you have less work to do but you have more responsibility to ensure that it all works out. So the ones that really working their sweat are your subordinates and thus deserve the praise should everything goes well. As a leader, you take all the flak and make sure that your team looks good. 
• Growing is about getting out of the comfort zone. I once heard a more coarse way of putting it, “Either you are growing or you are dying” and this holds somewhat true. When you are comfortable, you tend to get complacent. When you are growing, you will go through many rough patches and learn more from your mistakes and that’s what makes a great man. The great man is the man who experiences more of the unknown than the one who is not testing the boundaries of his own capabilities. 
• Don’t overestimate or underestimate your capabilities, get a system to track it so you know exactly what you can or cannot do. He tells me that he has seen people tend to be arrogant and overconfident of their abilities just to find themselves short when it is time to perform. There are also the others who can do so much more with their abilities but tend to downplay them because they think they are not up to the challenge and thus selling themselves short. He calls it a waste of resources for either case. 
• Good old fashion hard work. Just as everything else in life, nothing replaces blood, sweat and tears when getting it down to completing a tasks whatever it may be. As long as you have your direction, its all about solid hard work to turn a plan into reality. 
• Success is when opportunity meets preparation. Opportunity is always available around you but tends to be lost when you are not prepared to receive it. When you have planned and prepared for it either through the acquisition of knowledge, experience, hard work and wisdom, only then with a bit of luck, you will be greeted with success. Don’t worry too much about not being able to get opportunities, prepare yourself well first and let opportunity find you instead.