Everybody says they want to know how they're doing as a CEO. Then they fill the board with friendly faces, let the team filter the bad news, and cancel coaching when the numbers get ugly.

Bill tells the story of interviewing his own leadership team at the jewelry company he ran for eleven years, and hearing two leaders tell him he was the wrong kind of leader. He explains what he did with that, why it led to a turnaround, and why feedback lands like a verdict when your identity is wrapped up in your role.

Then the prescription: a real scorecard for the CEO that someone else holds you to, anonymous questions to your team, and the discipline to say thank you instead of explaining.

In This Episode

• Why "how am I doing?" is usually asked in a way that guarantees "great"
• The Fernando Flores style assessment interview and how to run one
• Five ways CEOs avoid the truth: no CEO scorecard, a friendly board, a filtering team, skipped coaching, and cancelled quarterly planning
• Why you know you are a micromanager but not how severe it looks from the other side
• This week: ask one person an uncomfortable question, then shut up and listen

Host Links

• Scaling Coach: scalingcoach.com
• Busy Is Broken: busyisbroken.com
• CEO Behavior Study: scalingcoach.com/study

Scaling Up Business Podcast with Bill Gallagher