Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger advises that a leader's job is to temper the extremes of market cycles. Instead of being a cheerleader, a CEO must act as a point of reality, ensuring the organization understands that "the high is never as high and the low is never as low."
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Nicolai Tangen, CEO of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, redefines the CEO acronym as "Chief Energy Officer." He sees his primary job as providing energy, direction, and inspiration to push the team toward ambitious goals they might initially resist, framing leadership as a function of energy transfer.
The demands of the CEO role—focusing on external stakeholders and high-level strategy—inevitably distance them from operational realities. This counterintuitive insight argues against the "Imperial CEO" model and highlights the constant risk of losing touch with the business.
Top board member Alfred Lin provides counter-cyclical mentorship. He champions the company during tough times to boost morale and plays devil's advocate during success to prevent complacency. This keeps founders grounded and forces nuanced thinking about trade-offs.
Jensen Huang rejects "praise publicly, criticize privately." He criticizes publicly so the entire organization can learn from one person's mistake, optimizing for company-wide learning over individual comfort and avoiding political infighting.
Founders often experience extreme emotional volatility, swinging from euphoria after a win to despair after a setback. The key is to understand that neither extreme reflects the true state of the business. Maintaining a level-headed perspective is crucial for long-term mental health and sustainable leadership.
The CEO role is not a joyful or fun job; it's a high-pressure, problem-solving position. Founders who love their craft, like software engineering, often take the CEO title out of necessity to solve a larger problem and bring a vision to life, not because they desire the job itself.
Contrary to the popular advice to 'hire great people and get out of their way,' a CEO's job is to identify the three most critical company initiatives. They must then dive deep into the weeds to guarantee their success, as only the CEO has the unique context and authority to unblock them.
Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger's heuristic for leadership communication is to repeat the company's vision until you are personally "absolutely sick and tired of it." He argues that this point of personal boredom is when the message is just beginning to truly permeate the organization.
AT&T's CMO Kellen Smith-Kenny encourages her team to be a "thermostat" that regulates a room's energy, rather than a "thermometer" that just reflects it. This means introducing data into a creative brainstorm or bringing a customer insight into a deeply analytical discussion to achieve balance.
Complete transparency can create panic and demotivation. A leader's role is to filter harsh realities, like potential layoffs, and deliver an authentic message that is both realistic and optimistic enough for the team to absorb productively, rather than sharing every fear.
