Lorenzo Delpani
The Worlds Times: What are the most critical skills a CEO needs to drive long-term business success, and how can they be effectively applied?
A successful CEO must master a combination of strategic, operational, and leadership skills to navigate complex business environments. I have created this list based on my global experience in large multinationals. These skills would be partially different if you are a CEO/entrepreneur/owner of a small company. They can be useful for self-assessment and reflecting on your strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement. I ranked them in order of importance, and the ranking reflects my personal opinion.
- Visionary Leadership: The ability to craft and communicate a clear, bold vision that inspires stakeholders and sets the organization’s direction.
Principle: Go for the moon. A successful CEO challenges the organization and themselves to exceed stakeholder expectations.
- Strategic Agility: Balancing long-term strategy with the flexibility to pivot when needed, ensuring the company thrives in changing environments.
Principle: Use a strategic planning tool like OGSM or my variant OGSAD (Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Actions, Driver). Continuously refine strategies and review the entire OGSAD framework annually. Key of the OGSAD is the D, i.e. the appropriate choice of Drivers to lead the execution of the different actions that implement the strategies. To be clear, drivers should be identified by name and last name. No impersonal responsibilities.
- Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Making high-stakes decisions with limited information, leveraging a mix of data, intuition, and experience.
Principle: In situations of high uncertainty, start with small experiments, validate results, and scale up only when the model is proven.
- Execution Excellence: Ensuring strategic goals are translated into effective action and measurable results.
Principle: Foster a DRIVE culture, where DRIVE means Decisions lead to Results when Implemented with Velocity and Excellence. Velocity and Excellence in execution should be part of people personal evaluation.
- Stakeholder Management: Navigating relationships with investors, board members, customers, employees, and external partners to align interests and create value.
Principle: All stakeholders are critical, but customers come first. Success with customers (or consumers) simplifies engagement with other stakeholders.
- Financial Acumen: Mastery of budgeting, forecasting, and capital allocation to ensure profitability and sustainable growth.
Principle: EBITDA is the queen, but cash is always king. While tracking various KPIs, prioritize cash generation. Sales matter only if they convert into cash.
- Resource Allocation and Prioritization: Optimizing time, capital, and talent to focus on the most impactful initiatives.
Principle: Develop pay-as-you-grow models. Use flexible budgets that scale with revenue, tying investments to margins rather than fixed amounts.
- Building and Communicating Culture: Shaping a strong, values-driven culture that aligns employees with the organization’s mission.
Principle: Create a culture of achievers and winners who work hard, align their goals with the company’s objectives, and are rewarded based on performance.
- Personal Resilience and Self-Mastery: Maintaining physical and mental well-being to sustain high performance and manage stress effectively.
Principle: Stay sharp and sharpen the saw regularly: invest in your well-being and personal development.
- Talent Development: Identifying, nurturing, and retaining top talent to build high-performing teams that drive organizational success.
Principle: Hire slow and fire fast. Reward talent based on merit and measurable results.
- Innovation and Creativity: Encouraging fresh ideas and embracing innovation to address challenges and seize opportunities.
Principle: Innovation drives growth only if initiatives meet RUIDO criteria: Relevant, Unique, Impactful, Differentiating, and Ownable.
- Resilience and Perseverance: Maintaining determination through setbacks while focusing on long-term goals.
Principle: Persevere, but adapt as needed. There’s no logic in charging into an iceberg. Reassess and adjust course when necessary.
- Foresight and Anticipation: Recognizing trends and potential disruptions early to position the company for future success.
Principle: Build a radar. Develop a proactive business radar to identify risks and opportunities. Effective risk management preserves value.
- Crisis Leadership: Handling crises with resilience and composure, turning challenges into opportunities for recovery and innovation.
Principle: Develop a trained crisis management team. Crisis management is a critical skill that all core executives must master.
- Global Perspective: Leading with an understanding of international markets, background and knowledge diversity, and geopolitical factors to position the company globally.
Principle: Optimize value chains globally and maintain flexibility to relocate resources and sourcing as needed.
- Ethical Judgment and Integrity: Demonstrating honesty and accountability to build trust and credibility.
Principle: Be radically honest and expect radical honesty. Integrity is foundational for trust and sustainable success. Fire immediately, people that lie and have no integrity.
- Adaptability and Learning Agility: Staying open to new ideas, learning from experience, and quickly adjusting to new conditions.
Principle: Regularly reassess and adapt your OGSAD framework to reflect changing conditions.
- Relationship Building and Influence: Creating strategic partnerships and leveraging influence to amplify organizational impact.
Principle: Build partnerships based on win-win agreements that ensure mutual benefit and long-term success.
- Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and managing your own emotions while empathizing with others to build strong interpersonal relationships.
Principle: Follow the Golden Rule: treat others as you wish to be treated to foster trust and collaboration.
- AI Mastery and Application: Prepare for the Ai revolution and disruption. it is going to be a huge one. Embrace artificial intelligence as a transformative tool to optimize operations, enhance decision-making, and unlock new growth opportunities.
Principle: Leverage the power of AI. Systematically explore AI-driven solutions that can streamline processes, personalize customer experiences, and deliver actionable insights. Make AI a core competency within your organization to stay ahead in the evolving business landscape.
By mastering and applying these skills, a CEO can effectively lead an organization to long-term success, ensuring adaptability, resilience, and continuous growth in an ever-evolving business landscape.
Lorenzo Delpani’s Author Bio:
Greetings! I am Lorenzo Delpani. I’m the Founder of IDEANAUTA, an investor, and a PE advisor with a global career as the former Global CEO of Revlon and TCG (owned by CVC Capital). A global executive, I have held leadership roles at Reckitt, J&J, and P&G, shaping the consumer goods industry. A serial innovator, I’ve led the development and successful launch of several blockbuster innovations across multiple consumer categories, earning over 15 “Product of the Year” awards. In December 2015, I was honored as Marketer of the Year in Beauty (for mass market) by WWD and recognized as one of the Most Influential CEOs in Marketing, Media, and Tech by Adweek.
I strive to be on the light side of the Force, yet I am not a Jedi, but a gladiator ready to fight in the business arena to create value and make a difference. Currently, I serve as a board advisor, investor, and startup entrepreneur, still seeking the holy grail, the right opportunity to make a dent in the universe.
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