Situation: A CEO is curious about how others have strengthened their leadership skills over time. From discussions with other CEOs she has gathered that focus and communication are important strengths to build. How do you use focus and communication to strengthen your leadership?

Advice from the CEOs:

• Often the process is more important than the actual decision because the process frames how the decision is made.
  • If the process is open to new ideas and approaches, and these are welcomed in the discussion, this can generate both more creative decisions as well as increased buy-in to the ultimate decision being made.
• One CEO finds that his company is always focused on the outcome. However, he has grown to understand that it is important to frame the decision-making process around your values.
  • Value-based decisions not only generate increased buy-in by all involved, but they strengthen the sense of company culture and values.
• Another CEO was faced with a personnel issue. She found that by analyzing past decision-making processes company leadership was able to identify a previously unrecognized factors and processes that fed the personnel issue.
  • By addressing the process, the company was able to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of all.

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