Handling Non-Execs: The CEO’s Real Test

Every CEO will tell you that running the business is only half the job. The other half is handling the board and, in particular, the non-executive directors.

Your brain is chatting absolute bollo*ks.

It feeds you fear, dresses it up as truth and keeps you stuck while convincing you it’s keeping you safe.

Women don’t need more women in leadership; they need more men who actually give a sh*t.

The reality is that most senior executives, especially CEOs and board members, have the attention span of a caffeinated goldfish

If you wanted to learn guitar and kept whacking the strings like you were trying to kill a spider, you’d get nowhere. Hire a teacher, change your approach and suddenly you’re cranking out Wonderwall like it’s 1995.

If you think cutting sleep is the price of leadership, you’re already paying for it — in slower decisions, weaker focus and a shorter fuse.

You become the sum of the people you surround yourself with - whether it’s their energy, their expectations or their standards.

Most of us have no idea how good our bodies and brains are designed to feel because we’ve never given them the chance.

Earlier this year, I did something which felt super uncomfortable.

I left the country…
…and left my phone behind.

No one questions the late-night shareholder dinners where the wine keeps flowing, even when there’s a critical board meeting the next morning. You can show up visibly under par, off your game and no one says a word (believe me, I’ve been there when it’s happened…more than once!), because that kind of hangover is still more acceptable than choosing not to drink at all.

I didn’t lose weight because I found the perfect diet. I lost 50kg of weight because I stopped drinking.

It’s Saturday morning and the weekend is finally here (I can almost hear the cheers from your beds!) You’ve made it to the end of another week…just.

Those who say they’ve never felt impostor syndrome.

Let’s cut the bullsh*t.

It’s amazing what we tolerate in the name of winding down (how many of you are reading this slightly dying in your bed this morning?)

It’s easy to look like you’ve got it all together. But the truth behind leadership is often far more exhausting and lonelier than it looks.

We’ve all had it - that creeping sense of unease, a low-level anxiety and that urge to check your calendar… just to feel more “in control.”

A few weeks ago, I asked a simple question on LinkedIn:

“Are you starting to rethink your relationship with alcohol?”

The response was telling, not just in numbers, but in what it says about where many high performers are finding themselves.

There are so many leadership books out there, but these three have stood the test of time for me, and I come back to them again and again, both for myself and with the leaders I coach. They're also not just leadership books but brilliant books for...well anyone who just wants to improve their life.

No one ever pulls you to one side and tells you that success can be isolating, that the higher up an organisation you get, the lonelier it gets. That reaching the boardroom might come with a side of silence.

Mistaking busyness for impact, Believing They Should “Have It All Together” and Ignoring the Signals Until It’s Too Late are mistakes all leaders make.