When you hear someone refer to “the good old days,” what sort of nostalgia does the saying evoke for you? Fewer responsibilities? More free time? Less stress? More laughter? Less traffic? More…? For many CEOs the days of old bring about memories of fast-tracks, executive training programs, mentors, leadership development and hearing their name and “HIPO” in the same sentence on a pretty regular basis. The earlier years of a CEOs career meant no shortage of feedback, guidance, honesty and advocacy…certainly there was minimal danger of walking around “naked.” Gives a whole new meaning to “lonely at the top,” huh? Of course, we aren’t talking fine suits (or lack thereof); we’re talking access to objective, unfiltered, advice, feedback and support. A CEO has but three areas to look to for such guidance:

The Board: A CEO’s Board of Directors should be a key area of accountability for a CEO. Considering one of the Board’s primary roles is to provide oversight and assistance to the CEO, the Board should be equipped to offer their CEO formal feedback or, at a minimum, have valuable conversations that offer insight on their performance, decisions, culture-building, and vision-setting, to name a few.

The Executive Team: Building an executive team that is empowered to be honest (brutally, if necessary), is another way to shore up the risk of unwittingly running around “naked.” Of course, easier said than done. Fear can often be pervasive in top leadership teams and it’s that same fear that will prevent a member of your executive team from speaking their mind when you most need to hear it. Let your team know you have their back, unconditionally. And if you want transparency and honest communication, you have to want to hear what has to be said—the good and the bad. Embrace it all and never, ever kill the messenger.

An Executive Coach/Advisor: Whether you’ve skillfully built an ELT who partners with you on the successes of your organization and/or are gifted with a Board that provides guidance and accountability while also empowering you at the helm, it’s almost always a good idea to employ “outside” counsel and advisement. A third party executive advisor can play the role of non-partisan sounding board; helping you to vet your innermost troubling concerns and roadblocks and help you reach conclusions and course-corrections quickly and through a “lens” not available to you from an internal source.

Contact The Bailey Group for more information about our Leverage4CEOs program.  We’ll tell you if you’re naked or not.