Sustainable growth requires marrying long-term patience with short-term impatience. A grand 10-year vision provides the "serotonin" of purpose, but consistent, 3-month achievements deliver the "dopamine" of progress. This dual focus keeps teams motivated and ensures the long-term plan is grounded in real-world execution.

PE sponsors and CEOs often define their "vision" as a revenue or EBITDA target. This is an output metric, not an inspiring vision. High-performing CEOs create a compelling narrative about the business's value proposition and purpose that motivates employees and resonates with customers. Financial success is the result of executing this vision.

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."

While public crises like the GameStop frenzy are intense, they are acute. A prolonged market downturn is a "slow burn" that grinds down morale and tests a leader's resilience over hundreds of days, making it the more difficult challenge.

The role of a CEO at the empire-building stage shifts from operations to allocation. An effective framework is to spend 40% of their time on attracting and retaining A-player talent, 40% on strategic capital allocation, and the final 20% on painting and reinforcing the long-term company vision.

The ability to remain calm and steady through market cycles and intense pressure is a distinct, non-negotiable skill for senior leaders. The Lovesack CEO has seen many otherwise smart and talented people fail because they couldn't manage the psychological strain, making this resilience a key differentiator.

During a stock downturn, Rhythm's CFO showed his team historical charts of successful biotech firms like Vertex and Regeneron that also endured long periods of low valuation. This tangible proof of long-term potential in a volatile industry served as a powerful tool to maintain employee morale and focus.

Klarna's CEO candidly revealed that his management team vowed never to watch the company's stock price after its IPO, but they immediately broke that promise and checked it daily. This highlights the intense, almost unavoidable psychological pressure that public market fluctuations exert on company leadership.

As a public company CEO, Dylan Field actively avoids focusing on daily stock fluctuations. He believes the only controllable factors are the business inputs—improving the product and creating customer value. This is an application of Bill Walsh's philosophy, "the score takes care of itself," to public market management, prioritizing long-term fundamentals over short-term sentiment.