Recovering addicts may know something that you don’t. I recently viewed a TED talk (see link below) by Michael Brody-Waite, a recovering addict, that provides some powerful insight into what works for CEOs too. I assume most of you reading this aren’t addicts. Use your non-addicted head start to your advantage and get started. Here are three principles you should start following:

Principle #1: Practice Rigorous Authenticity

Michael says that it’s about the work. And for addicts it’s about staying clean all the time. What does that mean if you’re a moderately successful CEO? You don’t need to get clean. In fact, you have 250 choices of things to do today that actually make you and your business better! So how do you be authentic to that? What’s the MOST authentic thing you can do? That is the question you need to wrestle with daily. What will drive your mission or vision most authentically today? While we talk a lot about increasing the value of clients’ businesses, it is NOT about that value or the money. It IS about what the business enables you to do. For many of our clients that comes down to helping others. Their employees, their children, etc. Regardless of your “why,” you need to keep it in mind as you develop your business, and then be truthful and direct in pursuing it. This will turn some off. It will confuse others, but it will also draw to you those that can help and those that share your “why.”

Principle #2: Surrender the Outcome

We ALL want something. Unfortunately, we will also ALL take actions that move us further away from that something. This happens sometimes. Stuff happens. Despite our best intentions or even sometimes because of them, we move in a direction that feels wrong. That’s okay. All those missteps and bad outcomes you’ve experienced over your life have contributed to you arriving exactly where you are. You needed them, and the ones in the future, to be where you are supposed to be. So don’t try to take actions and avoid the outcomes. Take actions you know you should and surrender the outcomes to a higher power. It will liberate you and contribute to your life’s journey. Interestingly, Chuck Yeager, the test pilot from The Right Stuff echoes this idea in his discussion of entering life and death dog fights with the right mindset:

“You can’t let your emotions affect what you are doing, whatsoever. Duty enters into the picture more than anything else. You know you have to do the job. You don’t let your worry about the outcome enter into it. Cause anytime you don’t have control over the outcome, forget it. You know you’re wasting your time worrying about it, or even thinking about it. You better concentrate on what you’re doing at the time to stay out of that fatal end that you could think about.” – Chuck Yeager

Principle #3: Do Uncomfortable Work

I discourage clients from hiring a COO when they begin working with us. Keep in mind our goal when working with a client is often to transition them from Owner Operator to Owner Investor. And Owner Investors don’t show up to work every day. So why not hire a COO right away and begin that transition? Because the business isn’t ready and the owner isn’t ready. It takes time to transition to a self-managing business and the owner’s attention is required to do that. Why do people try to avoid that work? Because it’s uncomfortable. It sometimes involves making talent changes in a team you’ve grown to love. It sometimes means abandoning a product, customer, etc. that you have come to identify with. Sometimes it means being the bad guy. BUT I find the same thing that Mike did. In business, being the one that can be trusted to do the uncomfortable thing, is POWERFUL. It builds trust.

Just Do It

Watch Mike’s video and then:

1. Practice rigorous authenticity.

2. Surrender the outcome.

3. Do uncomfortable work.