As the CEO of a growing group of companies, my day is busy to say the least, and it would be easy to allow myself to be distracted by what can be a constant stream of operational challenges. However, I do credit myself with being an organised person and this is because my approach to just about everything comes back to having a purpose and plan. This was recently reinforced, when I attended a presentation by business keynote, Keith Abraham who shared plenty of wisdom, but perhaps the most potent was when he said this: “When the why becomes clear, the how becomes easy”.
In this article, I share my experiences as a CEO and how this quote applies to me.
Your ‘why’ and how you achieve it will be different from mine. The point is, whatever you call it – vision, passion, objective – it needs to be attached to a methodology that articulates the steps involved and allows you to track your progress and measure your success.
None of this is new to you. All business leaders think long and hard about their ideal client, their point of difference and their product or service offering, average fees and number of clients needed, cashflow, profits and losses and so on…
As executives you’re also adept at navigating your way around roadblocks, and no doubt the recent pandemic has, if nothing else, honed your ‘pivoting’ skills.
At work we are in control, supported by various teams – sales, HR, IT, finance and marketing, – and we get things done.
Those tasks, which are usually important and complex, are clearly articulated. They have a clear purpose, there’s a plan with logical steps and instruments for measuring success.
If you are like me, when it comes to the important and complex matters that affect your own personal affairs, it doesn’t even make your ‘to-do’ list or if it does, it gets continually carried over to the next month, and the next.
Which reminds me of one of my favourite personal discoveries: If I write down my big goals, they usually happen.
If you have an interest in neuroscience, you’ll know this isn’t just coincidence.
Referred to as ‘scribing’ it causes something called ‘encoding’ deep in the temporal lobe of our brains. This is the biological process by which the things we perceive (including our goals) are received by our hippocampus which analyses them and the more likely our brains are to subconsciously make those things happen. Especially, if they are described in detail.
For years I’ve been working alongside executives who excel in their fields, but struggle with their personal affairs.
Financially proficient, they manage huge budgets and complicated legal matters, knowing too well the consequences of leaving anything to chance.
Yet, their personal affairs, which are also complex, by nature of their high earning remuneration and other matters including executive share schemes, performance-based shares, bonuses and tax obligations, take a back seat.
I understand. There are just so many hours in a day.
For time-poor executives working and earning becomes something of a factory. It can be a means to an end, but many executives fail to articulate what the end is. Taking a moment to consider why you really do what you do will define your purpose and that’s the first step in the plan to consciously achieving it.
Unlike business administration, personal administration is usually less structured. To make the most of the long hours you work and your significant remuneration, that needs to change.
I refer to it as ‘executive dis-order’ defining disorder as ‘without order’.
If your purpose is to achieve professionally so you may be rewarded personally then you’ll need a personal plan to guide your prosperity and this is where the scribing and encoding applies.
That plan needs to be articulated, written down and well supported by a team of well qualified professionals who can do the heavy lifting for you.
Experienced and specialised in their fields – financial advice, tax and accounting and law – they will form your ‘advice team’ who will collaborate across their disciplines, as part of a holistic and properly integrated approach, that delivers the best possible outcomes.
Your plan should include these five steps:
1: Develop your Personal Strategic Plan
2: Assemble your professional team of advisors; who will
3: Execute your strategic plan for you.
4: Review your progress at six months, then
5: Review it again in 12 months to measure the outcomes achieved.
Personally, implementing structure and assembling an ‘advice team’ dedicated to attending to my personal administration has been a gamechanger. My personal affairs, just like my business goals, are definite with nothing left to chance and underpins why I do what I do.
My why is to share my experience with other executives (and my team), so we may all prosper from our often-significant commitment and achieve what really matters in our personal, as well as business lives.
Next …
To learn more about ‘executive dis-order’ to create order in to your personal affairs, please click this link.
To find out what motivates me and my team, and why we are well qualified to assist executives to clarify their purpose, execute their personal strategic plan and achieve measured outcomes, please explore this website.
Then, please accept my invitation to contact me for a no-strings-attached discussion about our collaborative advice model and how we create properly integrated multi-disciplinary solutions and outcomes for executives and senior managers.
Please call Executive Strategies on +61 7 3007 2080 or email contact@executivestrategies.com.au
Executive Strategies is a specialised information hub for executives and senior managers who may have founded their own business or who work for growing private, ASX listed companies or government businesses. Its purpose is to provide access to specialist advisers and information that addresses the often-complex issues affecting their personal prosperity.
