Eight habits that separate effective CEOs from the rest

Executive overview

Most CEOs stay stuck reacting — to the next goal, the next crisis, criticism. The gap between good and great leadership is usually a set of habits, not talent.

Effectiveness comes from deliberate practice: introspection, preparation, and creating space to think.

Working with your COO

• COOs rarely say no — they say "not now" while they catch up on context the CEO has had for weeks.
• Replace "no" with "I love that idea — let me ask questions so I can run with it."
• This signals engagement and keeps momentum without killing ideas.

Writing a book

• A book builds brand, authority, and recruiting pull — cheaper and easier than ever.
• Services like Scribe Media extract content through structured interviews; you think out loud, they build the manuscript.
• Not writing one as a sitting CEO is a missed opportunity.

Introspection and blame

• Introspection — blaming yourself before the external world — is a core CEO skill.
• Hiring, marketing, team growth: all your responsibility.
• When you model self-accountability, the team stops externalising too.

Wartime vs peacetime leadership

• The wartime CEO (term from Ben Horowitz's The Hard Thing About Hard Things) makes fast, confident decisions under stress.
• Slowness and visible fear send negative signals through the organisation.
• Protect A and B players; cut C players decisively — average companies will hire them.

Celebrating progress, not just chasing the horizon

• Most CEOs focus on the next goal and forget to acknowledge what was just accomplished.
• For every three new goals set, celebrate three things already done.
• For every three problems identified, thank the team for three problems already fixed.

Preparing for economic downturns

• Boom-bust cycles are inevitable; dismissing a downturn is the most dangerous mistake.
• Prepare now: strong financial foundations help whether the downturn arrives or not.
• Reacting in panic is always more costly than early, calm decisions.

Handling criticism

• Criticism is feedback; feedback is the breakfast of champions.
• If you ask your team to improve constantly, you must be equally open to receiving that input.
• Mastermind groups provide peer feedback that doesn't feel like criticism but functions the same way.

Scheduled thinking time

• Every CEO needs at least one day a month — ideally more — away from the business to think.
• Modelled on Bill Gates' Think Week: no technology, just books, a notebook, and unstructured thought.
• Questions worth sitting with: how to coach the team better, how to wow customers, where the business should go next.