The Real Meaning Of CEO

Start with Self-Awareness

If you want to tap into your own passion and purpose, you must possess a keen sense of self-awareness. You have to develop the emotional awareness for why you do what you do each day.

Perhaps you’re passionate about the mission. Or maybe your family is your true purpose, and the income lets you live the life you want for them.

There’s no one right answer—but it has to be your right answer rooted in your own beliefs and experiences. You can fake a lot of things in life, but self-awareness of your passion and purpose isn’t one of them.

Be an Open Book

No matter what room you find yourself in, whether you’re an intern or chairman of the board, the people around you need to know you’re human. And being human requires some level of vulnerability.

Personally, I don’t struggle with being an open book, but I know many leaders who do. Often, it’s a fear rooted in the fear of being perceived as weak. But true vulnerability rooted in passion and purpose is the greatest strength you can have.

During my time as CEO of CSL, I would go talk to new classes of trainees. Since I didn’t always have the chance to interview them myself, I wanted to at least impart to them the passion for what we were doing—how we were literally saving lives.

I’d go in and talk with them and answer whatever they wanted to know about me—even if it was about my family, hobbies, faith, or anything else. I know that sounds dangerous to many, or like a potential HR trap. But they had to know that we weren’t just another pharmaceutical company pumping out pills. We were real people serving real people—starting with me.

Know Your Story

Most importantly, I wanted trainees to know the story of how my personal Why overlapped with the company’s Why. When I first entered the operations side of pharmaceutical work, I inherited a difficult situation in which new regulations slowed our production of medicine for hemophilia patients.

Meeting with these families firsthand was unlike anything I had experienced yet in my pharmaceutical career. Meeting them face to face, I listened to their stories. I saw the battles their children were fighting to lead normal lives.

As a dad myself, what would I do to help my kids if we were in the same situation? I bent over backward to help them, even when that meant giving business to our competitors during the production slowdown.

Even up to my retirement, I’ve kept in touch with those families. Over the years, they’ve sent me letters, updating me on their lives—pictures of graduations and weddings. Reminders that what we did for them in that difficult season had made a difference.

That was our story. That was our mission.

Evangelize to Mobilize

Being the Chief Evangelist of the Organization isn’t about fuzzy feelings. You’re mobilizing the team to move forward with purpose and passion in every facet of the work.

When you can infuse your job with both your identity and purpose, you gain direction and clarity. You see where you can add value and where you can make a true difference. And then you get to inspire others to do the same.

This week, look for opportunities to become more self-aware. Find ways to be an open book with your team. Make sure you consistently share the story behind the mission.

If you want to dive deeper, make sure to check out my new book, The Detour CEO, or connect with me on my website to talk about how to mobilize your team with mission.