3. Ignoring basic management principles. Companies don’t work via osmosis. Many CEOs assume that the vision and strategy they so meticulously developed will trickle down to all employees, or that they only need to communicate it once for it to stick.
Many fail to take the next step: Helping all employees understand how their daily job responsibilities support the corporate strategy and goals. This is crucial for alignment. Also, the speed and complexity of business today requires that CEOs have some sort of system to regularly check employee progress on goals and be alerted to issues that may impact performance.
Both novice and experienced CEOs should understand their responsibilities and prioritize their time accordingly. They need to have self-awareness to apply their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Finally, they must know how to instill their vision throughout an organization to produce results.