
Show them you care-
by leading from the
front.
Pardon Me, That's My Throne 33
Whe
n I'm with them I fly coach. Amazes
clients who see me on board! If you crave
CEO
bucks, don't be a big jerk. Focus
on your people. Skip the perks that may bug
your people. T hat's leading from the from.
You can't lead from the back, really. Ask yourself what Ken Iverson
would do. Or Julius Caesar. Ok, maybe
he should have gotten a few
bodyguards.
I've read lots of books on CEOing. Some are listed at this
chapter's end. But the most imp
ort
ant things I ever learned about
leadership and being a CEO, I learned from Julius Caesar and at
Mat
erial
Pro
gress.
Wh
ether you' re a founder-
CE
O as I am or a
replacement C
EO
as I was at Material Progress, it's all about how
you get it in your employees' bones that you care- ab
out
them, the
firm, the customers, the outcome. T hey need to believe you aren't
just in it for the bucks.
Th
ey need to believe. You need to make
them believe. T he best way to make them believe is to believe your-
self. T he more time you put into people, the more fun it becomes.
Staying in lousy hotels and flying coach aren't fun. But it works.
HOW
TO
GET
THE
JOB
T here are four best paths to becoming a non-founder
CEO.
Yo
u can:
1. Ride along to the throne.
2. Pay for it, literally.
3. Be the go-to.
4. Get recruited.
Riding along (Chapter 3) then switching paths is fairly com-
mon for
CE
Os- the technique used by Jack Welch, Steve