A walk in the park - "You are the best CEO the company could have right now. Remember it. "

Once a week, I take a walk with other fellow founders to connect and share experiences. Connection is a significant need for human thriving, and founders are notoriously alone.

Here are some thoughts from the last one.

Founders are strong performers; they get things done. Startups in the early stages depend on the capacity of founders to deliver exceptional execution in several areas in parallel.

If everything goes right, the company will need more people to deliver its core promises. Usually, this leads to increased complexity in the issues to manage and in the relationships to build and nurture.

In this stage, the pressure on the role of the CEO ramps up dramatically. What before was mainly external relations and sales becomes both larger and fuzzy simultaneously. The founder/CEO is still engrained in the same execution/performance mindset, and it all becomes quickly hard to manage.

As a founder/CEO, you are used to identifying how you can make things better: the list of things you could do better as a CEO is endless.

There is a vast amount of literature on what a great CEO should be: charismatic, thought leader, performer, relationship builder, coach, negotiator, strategist, motivator, ... the list is endless. There are also a lot of examples of people excelling at each specific task. So you know it is possible and actionable.

Of course, you are also pragmatic, so you know that minor tweaks could do a lot.

And that's where the trouble starts.

You spread yourself extremely thin, focus on where you are underperforming and take on an impossible task for a single person. You don't build empathy in your team, and the external pressure climbs up. You don't have time to set the right expectations, and you let the expectations set up your agenda. You quickly start to lose agency and control over your time and priorities.

Here are some thoughts that helped me:

• You are the best CEO the company could have right now. Remember it.
• Your stamina is limited, and it is ok.
• You have control over where you put your efforts.
• Be explicit with your team about your challenges and where you put your time. The way to get one great thing done is to let small bad things happen where you can afford them.
• Time blocking is your friend.
• Timeblock also time for yourself. You have a great capacity for withstanding hardship; it will only get greater if you can release the tension daily/weekly and stay true to yourself.
• You are not alone. I have been through this. Many go through this right now. Reach out and connect.  
• It is one of the most rewarding growth paths you can take. When done right, you will know yourself better, build meaningful relationships and learn fast.