arry Potter was lucky. He had the ultimate wise elder, Albus Dumbledore in his corner. Someone who could teach him how to be a better human being (er, wizard), how to be more proficient with magic, how to think strategically and defeat the bad guys.
The truth is, all of us would benefit from having an Albus Dumbledore in our lives, but most of us don’t—and most of the people we’d call on to be that wise elder in our corner aren’t capable of the full range of advice and counsel that Dumbledore is (possibly because he’s fictional).
Why work with a Coach or a Mentor?
For some of us, our first impressions of coaches are leftover from a time when they weren’t so commonplace. Now, their value seems more obvious, but even with many amazing mentors and coaches available, many CEOs are still skeptical about their value.
Just think—the world’s greatest athletes, the ones who get paid zillions of dollars because they are the best in the world at something, use MULTIPLE coaches DAILY to perfect their craft and keep them focused.
Why should Rafael Nadal or Serena Williams have a trainer and a coach, but not you?
Bolster CEO Matt Blumberg says he’s benefited over the years from the advice of more people than he could ever count or thank. However, when it comes to being a CEO, he has leveraged the counsel of a CEO Coach or Mentor in three different areas:
- Functional topics related to the craft of being a CEO—from the lofty question “how to run a board meeting” to the nitty gritty details of “how to do a layoff.”
- Developmental and behavioral topics like “how to show up as a leader in the organization,” or “how to be a better listener.”
- Topics around team efficacy, such as “how to get the most out of a leadership team,” or “why doesn’t Person X trust Person Y, and how does that impact team performance?”
In some unusual circumstances, you can find a person who can help you with all three areas and who can help you as you and your company grow. But for the most part, this requires engaging at least two different people.
What’s the difference between a CEO Mentor and a CEO Coach?
Counsel on item 1 above—what one might call CEO Mentorship—almost certainly requires someone to have been a CEO. Preferably multiple times, or for a long period of time, through multiple stages of company growth, or two or three of those qualifiers.
This is the kind of person who can teach you how to be an effective CEO. These people are super busy, and they won’t have open-ended amounts of time for you, but you can expect sage wisdom and answers when you need them. You can have more than one of them at a time, or change them out as your company evolves and your needs change.
Counsel on items 2 and 3—what one might call CEO Coaching—frequently come together with a professional who is and has been a coach for a while. They may have had a significant career in business before becoming a coach, but perhaps were not a CEO.
This person probably has some kind of academic grounding, like a Master’s degree in Organizational Development or Industrial Psychology, or a Certificate in Coaching. This is the kind of person who can do things like facilitate meetings, run assessments like Myers-Briggs or DISC, and coach other leaders on your team. This person is dedicated to helping you be the best leader, professional, and CEO that you can be and must be both empathetic and comfortable pushing you hard.
Sometimes, you can get mentorship and coaching from the same person, but almost only with CEO Coaches who are also CEO Mentors by the definition above.
Five signs you need a CEO Mentor and/or Coach
So how do you know when it’s time to hire a coach or find a CEO mentor? Here are five tell-tale signs:
- You are playing ‘whack-a-mole’—running from crisis to crisis in your organization and are not able to make time to think, stay current with email, or make time for important things like hiring senior executives
- Your board is getting frustrated with you, your team, and/or the lack of progress in the business
- The company isn’t scaling as fast as it should
- Your leadership team is not a cohesive team and you are in the middle of all decisions
- The company has high employee turnover and/or poor reviews on Glassdoor
If you’re a high performing founder, do yourself and your company a favor and invest in a CEO Coach and Mentor(s).
Not sure how to best leverage them? Check out this article on how to select a CEO mentor or coach and how to get the most out of working with them.
It’s an investment in accelerating your own and your company’s success.
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