Are You Ready to Be a CEO, a Founder or Both? Here's How to Know

Feb 20, 2025 10:00 PM - 3 weeks ago 29404

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A laminitis is very different from a CEO. Picture a laminitis arsenic personification who doesn't afloat respect authority, arsenic they cognize heavy down wrong they person a amended imagination than the existent system. That is simply a founder.

Now, image a CEO. Much for illustration a main successful a school, CEOs are responsible for executing a mission. They transportation retired decisions of their owners and bosses (shareholders and committee members), and they only create aft receiving support from their overseers (again, shareholders and committee members).

The visionary capabilities that CEOs person are very different than the visionary skills that founders possess. Most cannot do both. If they effort to do both, galore times, they fail. But location are a fewer that tin learn to do both. The trouble is recognizing that the 2 are each very different categories pinch very different accomplishment sets.

Founders are oftentimes very heart-lead pinch a deficiency of business strategy and will not displacement from their original imagination to support their ngo alive, which tin origin their institution to spell bankrupt.

Experienced founders and CEOs oftentimes cognize wherever they guidelines successful the mix. Many founders will exit their companies astatine definite stages of growth. Many seasoned CEOs will not activity pinch young companies until they are much mature pinch a little consequence profile.

From what I person seen, the biggest consequence is the span from a founding institution to an operational business. This is wherever you will often spot bigger businessmen push retired founders, devour their intelligence spot aliases effort a dispute takeover. The world of business is not kind, and galore neglect owed to the surrounding pressures.

What astir you? Are you a functioning CEO, laminitis aliases both? Or are you neither and looking for proposal to return you to the adjacent step? I wish personification would person been capable to springiness maine proposal connected the level I americium sharing pinch you. I whitethorn person been capable to debar immoderate of the conflicts I person acquired on the measurement since opening my first business successful 2018.

So, what qualities do you possess? A founder? A CEO? Or both?

Related: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Took My Company Public

Top 7 traits founders possess

  1. Thought leader: The expertise to spot what is needed for a amended future.
  2. Passion: The desire to commit.
  3. Creativity: Insight to build.
  4. Empathy: Burning desire to care.
  5. Discipline: Ability to execute.
  6. Bravery: Confidence to beryllium told you can't do it and still push forward.
  7. Versatility: Ability to shift.

Top 7 traits CEO possess

  1. Visionary: The expertise to spot strengths and weaknesses that whitethorn put companies astatine risk.
  2. Discipline: The expertise to show up and execute what is needed to optimize institution success.
  3. Courage: The expertise to return committee decisions to labor and execute accordingly.
  4. Strategy: The expertise to return a work to market, and the penetration to discontinue services the marketplace nary longer demands.
  5. Perseverance: Having the expertise to proceed to push forward moreover successful times of hardship.
  6. Objectivity: Having the expertise to emotionally disconnect erstwhile difficult decisions are needed for the betterment of all.
  7. Humbleness: Having the expertise to person affirmative and antagonistic comments, disapproval and opinions proceeding pinch respect for improvement, not insult.

Related: 3 Innate Traits You Need to Survive the Rollercoaster of Entrepreneurship

Top 7 traits that founders who usability arsenic CEOs possess

  1. Visionary thought leader: Envisioning what the early needs and building it yourself.
  2. Compassion: The desire to amended the well-being of others while creating a amended future.
  3. Courage: Having the expertise to create successful the eyes of adversity while cutting and optimizing erstwhile needed.
  4. Discipline: Having the skillset to return constructive criticism while still pushing toward the wide vision.
  5. Versatility: Managing a company's P/Ls, audits, etc., while optimizing work lines for the betterment of nine while besides optimizing costs and gross structures.
  6. Humbleness: Having the expertise to person comments and actions of each kinds recognizing the request for continual improvement
  7. Grace: Having the expertise to cognize you did your champion today, and tomorrow is different time of growth.

While astir of the world thinks that CEOs are an admirable position to beryllium in, overmuch of the world despises the position a CEO holds. Every institution has to person a superior typical whose extremity is to support the company's mission, imagination and values alive.

If you are fresh to beryllium a founder, a CEO aliases both, do you deliberation you person what it takes? If you don't work together pinch the existent CEOs of today, are you fresh to thief make the alteration that is needed to amended the nine that truthful galore judge?

Here is my advice, "Do it."

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