Growing too fast or not growing at all: the questions CEOs should ask themselves

Posted On July 7, 2018

What does a CEO need to focus on if his or her company is stagnant and starting to lose business to competitors? What about the CEO of a company that is growing so fast it can’t hire fast enough?

While these two situations are wildly different – even opposite – the questions they need to be asking themselves are largely the same.

Our guest in this week’s episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Gary Frey of Insight CXO, a Charlotte-based firm that provides coaching for CEOs of mid-market companies looking to manage their growth or maintain their foothold in the market.

Frey says that CEOs who find themselves in either of those situations have to face their companies’ vulnerabilities. They have to be humble enough to seek help, if need be. And they have to be committed enough to act, to embrace the change they need to grow or manage their growth.

Outside help such as that provided by Frey’s firm is often helpful in much the same way as a swing coach helps a pro golfer: “You can’t read the label when you’re inside the jar,” Frey says.

Frey shares several resources for CEOs looking for a framework to work from, including the 10 Rockefeller Habits and a book written by Insight CXO founder Robert Fish – The BreakAway Move. He shares how “coopetition,” partnering with potential competitors within your industry, can be beneficial and a pipeline to new customers.

He discusses how to get past the “tyranny of the urgent” in order to boost productivity, how millennials are changing the workplace by demanding what their predecessors never thought to ask for, and how the definition of a company’s core purpose, its long-range goal, should drive everything from hiring to strategy.

Join us for an enlightening discussion on how to get your company to align, focus and execute.

Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Podcast, Work, Workplace