So You Want to Be a CEO

© 2017. Company Confidential and Not for Redistribution. info@scientificrevenue.com 1
So You Want To Be A CEO
March 2017

About Me
• Former Mathematician
• Former AI Researcher
• CTO or VP/E at five startups
• Interim CEO at one
• Currently CEO of Scientific Revenue

Not Me

Ground Rules
• No recording
• The slides will not be available
• I sometimes swear
• I like clipart. When you get bored, look at the pictures
• Ask questions
• I’m not a believer in “Let’s make this interactive.” If you
want to make a speech, check with Ron and get a
speaking slot
• This is for your benefit

CEO Superpower
The 15 Things I
Thought Would Be
True When I Became
CEO That Aren’t

I’ll Stay True to This Paragraph
Here’s the down-and-dirty: How to understand the
boss. What the CEO's life is like. And for some of you
eyeing what looks like an alluring career path… Are
you really sure you want to? If you do, what the
transition to being a CEO really takes. Some of it will
be genuinely new, some of it will be things that you
already know that will surprise you anyway.

TL;DR

CEO Must Do Nine Things
•Cash Extraction Officer
• Calibrate against the one-year-from-now vision
• Represent the company publicly
• Constantly synthesize and resynthesize all known facts
• Make sure everyone knows what to do
• Catalyze decisions
• Be decisive
• Get out of the way
• Do what needs to be done

If you do anything else, you’re doing too much

It’s All About Soft Power

No Grown-Up Should Want to Be CEO

(Alternate Version)

Success is Mostly Luck
Mission: Cross the Ocean and Arrive in the Right Place

Peter Thiel: Valid Objection To “Luck”

It’s a Shitty Job, But
I’ll (Probably) Keep Doing It

21 Things You Already Know

As CEO, You Are an Awesome Being
• You are smarter than
most people in your
company
• You care more than
anyone else
• You are more invested
than anyone else
• You know less about any
particular named-thing
than most people in the
company

People Are Hot Messes
• Most people want the company
to do well
• Most people's personal goals
aren't aligned with the
company’s goals
• Most people don’t know what
their personal goals are
• Most people act in accordance
with either their personal goals
or for short-term satisfaction
• Most people avoid conflict
• Most people don't want to make
decisions
• Most people want to be nice
• Most people are ruled by fear
• Nobody will tells you the truth. Even when they think they are telling the truth,
they aren’t

People Are Bad at Their Adult Parts of their Jobs
• Most people
would rather not
do the boring
bits of their job
• People overlook
details
• People pivot to
fires
• People want to
work on what
the CEO is paying
attention to (but
do not want to be
responsible for
it)

Whenever someone should have done
something, and it was important, and they
didn’t do it, and they have some nicely
plausible excuse for why they did something
else that was much more interesting (in a
superficial way) but also much less important,
and the excuse doesn’t really hold water at all,
don’t think “WTF”, think “Mermaids!”
If You Only Remember One Thing …
There’s Always a Mermaid in the Background

People Are Hot Messes
• Most people want the company
to do well
• Most people's personal goals
aren't aligned with the
company’s goals
• Most people don’t know what
their personal goals are
• Most people act in accordance
with either their personal goals
for short-term satisfaction
• Most people avoid conflict
• Most people don't want to make
decisions
• Most people want to be nice
• Most people are ruled by fear
• Nobody will tells you the truth. Even when they think they are telling the truth,
they aren’t

The Deck is Stacked Against You
• You have limited time with
anyone in the org
• Suppurating flesh wounds,
left untreated, tend to get
worse
• You will only learn about
suppurating flesh wounds.
Nobody will tell you about
scratches
• Once Rome has been sacked,
it cannot be unsacked. The
Visigoths only have to win
once

Some Interesting Consequences

It’s All About the Story
• Encouraging ownership is the most important thing
you can do
• Ownership without big picture is useless, so telling the
story becomes super important
• Simplifying the story is always worthwhile
• It's all about choosing the right cliche

The magic of selling the same
thing at different price points
How much is the large human
bridle worth?

Crisis are Really Interesting
• By the time you know about a crisis, it's almost too late
• In a crisis? Overreact
• Not in a crisis? Do very little

Support is Valuable. Advice is Not
• Most advice is useless
• Most people don't know enough to offer advice
• Most people don’t know enough to know that they don’t
know enough to offer advice
• Most people don't know their advice is wrong, pointless,
stupid, and useless
• Most people get pissed off when you ignore their advice
• Don’t try to explain to a person giving advice why their
advice is wrong. That becomes an argument with a bad
outcome
• You will never win an argument with your board, because
they will choose to not listen

Support Group is Invaluable

Sales and Marketing Are Really Hard

Thank You
William Grosso, CEO
bill@scientificrevenue.com
(650) 575-0710

So You Want to Be a CEO

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Plus de William Grosso

Plus de William Grosso (9)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

So You Want to Be a CEO