CEO = Chief Enabler Officer

CEO = Chief Enabler Officer

I wrote a version of this in 2016 when I was running ColorElephant. The company grew to 30+ people, we eventually sold it, and I still think about this lesson constantly. Here's the piece, lightly updated.

When I was running ColorElephant, one of my biggest problems was time management. I took on too much work (most of which I probably shouldn't have) and between financials, client management, product development, hiring and the dozen other things I assigned myself to, I barely had time to do any of it well. Let alone spare some time for myself.

I could list productivity tricks. But I'd rather focus on one of my biggest lessons as a founder, and one that changed how I thought about my role entirely: I had the job of a leader all wrong.

I'd been building things for a big part of my life. In almost all of those things I was in the cockpit, leading or co-leading. That meant the hard nights, the pushes, the investments and everything else that comes with being responsible for the end result. But it also meant that because of that pressure, I pushed myself into every decision and every single important (or not-so-important) moment. Big presentation for a client? I'll do it. Budget? Let me take care of it. Design? Check. A hand with the code? Here. Product roadmap? Me, of course. Right?

The logic behind this is easy and it helps justify the habit: if you're going to be responsible, you have to be involved. But that reasoning hides the damage. Less morale. More delays. Less growth. Less ability to scale. When I looked back honestly, I realized I needed to change this. And I think you should too.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't be involved (you should). It means you can't do everything, and you have to give the proper room, tools and dedication to make sure the people around you can learn and become the best version of themselves. We need to enable instead of manage.

I came across this brilliant TED talk by Rita Pierson and realized the role of a CEO is a lot like the role of a teacher. This quote sums it up for me:

"Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be." — Rita F. Pierson

The same goes for the people you hire. Especially if they're early in their career, and especially at a small company. You hired them for a reason (they're good). They chose you for another reason (they trust you). The least you can do is dedicate your working hours to making sure they can grow with the company and get the ownership and independence that likely made them choose a startup over a corporate job in the first place.

I'm not saying CEOs should stop being deeply involved. I'm making the case for that involvement to be one that teaches and enables people instead of one that limits and pressures them. More enablers, less executors.