Contrary to social dogma, C-level executives do not have all the answers. They often make costly mistakes. Here’s a simple list of all the common mistakes CEO makes, concluded by Macropay’s Founder & CEO Adam Clarke.
Mistake # 1 – Neglecting Personal Health
Your business is a reflection of you and if your health suffers, so will the company. Healthy people have more energy to do great work. Taking care of your health is akin to taking care of the progress you have made with your team. A serious period of illness can definitely ruin the momentum of progress and ruin the timeline of your success.
Mistake # 2 – Never Taking a Break
Taking a break means taking some time off to actually work. A big part of taking a break is fun, play and enjoyment.
The play area of a CEO’s life is often overlooked. Play can be about doing something for the pure joy and not because it will move your business forward or help with family needs. It is just a break from the pressures of running and scaling a company.
Mistake # 3 – Taking on the Role of the Bottleneck
The best way for a CEO to run their company is by building an awesome team. This means that not only do they need great people under them, but also strong leaders who can hold each other accountable and help drive success in the business venture together!
Often, CEOs can get caught up in the role of keeping everything functioning. They want to approve every single decision from every single department. By not building a team where your executives are accountable for the work that they do, all decisions are up to you. You end up being the bottleneck of the company; everything needs your direct approval and nothing will move without you.
Mistake # 4 – Firing Slow
When an entrepreneur hires, they know from the first week that it was wrong or the worker is simply not a fit. However, instead of letting people go or removing them to improve culture and morale for everyone else, entrepreneurs remain hesitant.
Hoping that the hire would eventually be valuable is not a bad thing. However, retaining the unfit talent without a training plan just ensures that both the talent and the company will suffer together.
Mistake # 5 – Overworking the Superstars
You need to move faster than your competition, but you also can’t forget about the importance of culture. Employees want healthy working conditions and enough time with family or hobbies. They won’t stay if there’s constant pressure from management to do more, especially if they are already performing way above their normal workload.
Conclusion
These common CEO mistakes are not unavoidable but they can be difficult to spot while it is happening. Becoming aware can help a leader make less mistakes or correct the mistake right away.
Macropay’s Founder & CEO, Adam J Clarke, is no stranger to business errors. However, he highlights that what makes successful entrepreneurs is their ability to “get back up again after getting knocked over countless times.”
