Top Ten Concerns of CEOs
by Dr Sarah Layton, CEO, Corporate Strategy Institute

What I am about to share with you is very powerful. It has never been shared from the platform. You have not heard this on TV. You have not read this in a book . You have never heard this from any speaker or consultant unless you heard me in Pittsburgh. I know most of the major authors and speakers on strategy, and none of them have ever discussed the material I am going to give you here.

Do you know how I know?? Because I did the research and I wrote the conclusions. This research started 10 years ago with my Doctoral dissertation, and was continued through surveys and studies on customer satisfaction, professional standards and various industries. And finally from my notes done from the Strategist's Couch. The strategist's couch is like the psychoanalyst's couch. As a corporate strategist, I work with CEO's and top level executives to help grow the company, usually starting with the CEO on his/her personal strategic plan. When I work with them, I learn more about them than even their spouses know. I could tell you the ten most important things that concern a CEO, but I won't do that today. I will cover just one. By knowing these concerns and being prepared you can preempt the problems or mitigate them quicker. If you want to know automatically when the next concern is released click here .

Defection of biggest producer: The CEO is concerned that their biggest producer will defect to a competitor, taking key customers with them. Let me share what happened in one account. The top representative, responsible for $5MM in sales in a $10MM company, walked in one day, threw his resignation on the CEO's desk and walked out, never to return. The CEO called me, and I was on the next plane to NYC. By prior work on a Personal Strategic Plan we had anticipated this could happen and were prepared. A year earlier the CEO started a program to get themselves and other team members to know the largest clients better. Through direct mail and personal communication we were able to save all but about 5% of the business. Other corporate issues arise, such as no replacement for the top producer, and low morale following the departure, can spread throughout the company.

It is critical that key people wielding the most power be identified in an organization. In order to keep from having a huge impact, pro-active things must happen. For example:

1. Make sure the CEO knows the customers personally.

2. Work to ensure that there is an understanding that their happiness is the result of a TEAM effort. Not just the efforts of one person. Try to get other members of the team out to meet customers once in a while.