There are a lot of skills you need to be a successful startup CEO. You need a clear vision. You need to be able to listen. You need need focus. And you need to be calm under pressure.
But what is the one skill above all others that is the most underrated? I’ll give you my take in this short video:
Read The Video Transcript Below:
So what’s the most underrated skill you have as a CEO? It might surprise you, but you know what it is?
It’s two letters: N and O. The ability to say no. It’s probably the most important thing that you can learn that’s underrated as a CEO. Why is that?
Well because you’re going to get people bombarding you with everything they want you to do. From your customers, to your vendors, to your employees. All of them want to say one word: yes.
And if you say yes to everything, you’re dead because then you have no focus. You have no way of moving forward. You’re all over the map.
You’re going to spend too much money, and you’ll be doing everything that everybody wants you to do, but not what you need to do. Therefore, you have to learn the skill of saying no:
“No, I’m sorry. We’re not going to do that right now.”
“No, I’m sorry. We’re not going to hire this person right now.”
No, I’m sorry. We’re not going to spend that money right now.”
That’s a hard skill to learn because when you do that, you’re frustrating people and you have to explain, “here’s why we’re not going to spend the money.”
“Here’s why. We’re not going to hire the people.”
“Here’s why. We’re not going to do what you’re asking me to do, why we’re not going to go off in this direction over here on the right when we should be going over here on the left.”
It takes skill. It takes perseverance to say no.
It’s a critical skill that you need to learn to be able to grow your business because if you don’t learn it, and you don’t learn how to say no properly, one of two results is going to happen:
A. You’re going to do a lot of things that people want you to do that you shouldn’t be doing,
B. And the second one is you’re going to piss a lot of people off inside of your company and outside of your company.
So the key is say no and then explain, “Here’s why I’m saying no.”
Listen. Be patient. Go through the explanations in detail. And you’ll find yourself moving forward. And your team and your vendors and your customers understanding exactly what you’re talking about, exactly why you’re doing what you’re doing.
They’ll respect you for it. They may not like it. They might not agree with it, but they’ll respect you. I’m Brett at www.brettjfox.com. Have a great, great day. Thank you.
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