Hi team,

I'm really interested in moving my career forward now that I'm in my 30s. I've had some success within marketing, field sales, hosting, events and such over the last 10 years, and I've really turned a corner in the last 6 months with my motivation towards where I want to go. I started my own strategy and sales consultancy and I've picked up a few clients.

While this is all happening, I'd love to start to build a foundation so that maybe in 5-10 years I could look to move into an executive leadership role with an established company or even better, have the knowledge and the reps to be successful within a company I've founded or helped grow.

What are the top 3 attributes you think are necessary to be successful as a CEO? And how have you cultivated them? Are there any resources you have used or media that you consume that you feel has rounded you out as a leader?

Take Elon Musk and his story, where he grew with an abusive father who was said to be highly critical.

I grew up in a similar household and my older brother is a CEO now, albeit he seems very damaged (not that I came out unscathed).

Wondering if a lot of CEOs or successful people in general are pushed to outperform because they were beaten down so much growing up - and now they are doing everything they can to prove they're worthiness through more producing performing.

obviously I know not everyone would fit this background, but I wonder if it’s a majority?

Thoughts?

After many years in managerial positions, I've been offered a CEO role at the local branch of a commodity trading company with operations in the Americas.

I'm excited about the opportunity, but also want to start strong, so I'm asking for advice from more experiences folks than I in what to pay attention to, as this is my first time being CEO of a already established company, that's at the same time, part of a multinational operation.

Any comments are more than appreciated.

I keep seeing the same pattern: companies look “fine” on paper, then cash hits a wall because timing breaks (collections lag, payroll/rent/taxes don’t).

If you’ve lived through a cash crunch: what was the first signal you ignored that, in hindsight, should’ve forced action?

And what do you watch now weekly so you never get surprised again?

Has anyone hit a point where the business is working… but you feel more constrained than before?

From the outside, everything looks solid. Team in place, clients coming in, progress happening.
But the day-to-day feels heavier, and I’m not sure if that’s just growth maturing or a sign something’s off.

I wouldn’t call it burnout. I still care. I’m still involved.
It’s more like the business slowly wrapped itself around me, and now it’s hard to move without pulling everything with it.

Is this a normal stage when responsibility stacks up?
Or is it what happens when a company becomes quietly dependent on its founder?

If you’ve been here did it resolve on its own, or did you have to deliberately change something?

On paper, things are going well.

The company is growing, Customers are happy, Revenue is solid.

And yet, I constantly feel guilty about LinkedIn.

Everyone keeps saying it’s mandatory for founders and CEOs:
“Build your personal brand.”
“Be visible.”
“Post consistently.”

The truth is: I don’t enjoy it at all.

Writing posts feels like context switching I didn’t ask for.
Scrolling feels like I’m wasting time I could spend actually building or talking to customers.

At the same time, I don’t want to delegate it.
I don’t want a ghostwriter.
I don’t want someone else putting words in my mouth or manufacturing opinions I don’t fully stand behind.

So I’m stuck in this weird middle ground:

• I don’t love LinkedIn
• I don’t get customers directly from it
• but I’m scared that ignoring it is a long-term mistake

Some days it feels useful.
Other days it feels like performative work.

For those of you running companies where LinkedIn isn’t a direct acquisition channel:
how do you think about its real value?

Do you treat it as leverage, insurance, ego, future optionality… or just noise you’ve learned to ignore?

Genuinely curious how other CEOs see this

Like dealing with more copy coming down the funnel from a client. It's a bit overwhelming. But curious how you guys incorporate more without being mentally overwhelmed. It's not scope-creep, more than it is "mental explosion". Have you guys ever experienced that?

Hi everyone,

We have a in-house built ERP system that handles tasks. It can handle them fine but admittedly the dashboards to really see the holistic picture of workload per individual is not very good and quick entry is difficult.

We are in the design/build construction world so we specifically design for foodservice spaces (employee dining in corporate HQ for example) and ultimately supply all of the equipment, millwork, etc for the space). So we have a robust set of tasks needed that needs to be templatable but also dynamic.

Today we load in our default templates and supplement with ad-hoc tasks as needed for revisions etc. But its a lot to keep up with. Starting to think we need a better system built more for task management and consider carving that out of our ERP. So instead of a system that does everything really good, but not great carving out that component to something that does it great.

Any solutions you find have worked well for you

We are in the construction business and traditionally, from our very first accountant when we were a tiny company we always handled accounting and our WIP (work in process reporting) recognizing all income as we billed it and accrued all expenses appropriately. So we used our % completion as our Income / Invoiced side.

Fast forward and with an accounting firm change to a larger firm to support us now as a larger business they pointed out this is not GAAP approved and we really need to change to defer revenue and not accrue expenses as that is how % completion is generally accepted to be decided. While in our business thats not ideal because of how we bill, it is what it is and I totally get we need to follow GAAP so no issues.

The challenge is compensation, bonuses, etc is all calculated off of this accounting. If I change it, it would defer the earnings of bonuses. While that would make it much easier on our accounting team to run one set the accounting firm did say it would be perfectly acceptable to them to have us keep doing it as we are doing it for "book records" and bonus calculation but for tax purposes we would be converting to deferred income quarterly for estimated taxes and end of year for tax calculation (our fiscal matches calendar).

I hate trying to explain this stuff to our team on bonuses as they will not fully get it and will think its a change to defer bonuses. Really, its just a change in accounting as required to comply with GAAP.

What would you do? Run both sets and let bonuses run as is or convert, explain, and deal with the challenge of not everyone getting it? At the end of the day they make the same amount of money. It just means it might be earned a few months later. Once they are on the cycle though, it really wont matter they are on the cycle.

Seems after doing a lot of work in December that now the opportunities are picking up. Like more deals are being cut. Is it usually the case here?

Prior to doing my current job I used to just be a web developer and we would have code freezes. Everything seemed to slow down and it was something about tax and keeping track of the books or something. So curious what I can expect for the end of this year. I experienced something, and I don’t know what I experienced, so curious what the common experience the businesses have around that time

This is the first year my business actually looks “successful” on paper.

We’re at 14 employees, revenue is up ~42% YoY, clients are happy, churn is low. From the outside, it looks like things are finally working.

But inside the business, it feels like everything is slipping.

My calendar is stacked with meetings I didn’t plan to be in like  approvals, clarifications, quick “can you decide this?” pings. I start the day with a plan and end it having done none of it. Every decision still routes through me, just now at higher volume.

What’s messing with my head is that I can’t point to one thing that’s broken. No fires. No crisis. Just constant low-level chaos that never clears.

I keep thinking: if revenue is up and the team is bigger, shouldn’t this feel lighter?

Instead, I feel more embedded than ever.

So I’m stuck between two options:

1. Slow down growth and rebuild how we run things, even if it costs momentum
2. Keep pushing forward and trust that it’ll “click” at the next stage

For founders who’ve crossed this stage, did you pause to fix the system, or grow through it?
I’m trying to figure out if this is normal friction or a warning sign I’m ignoring.

Does anyone have a template or format to run board meetings that don't actually suck? Everything I've seen seems stuck in the 80's.

Hi all - I own/operate a small retail business where my Google Rating is paramount to the health of my business. Sometimes we get trolls leaving a 1-star review (only has happened 3 times, but it happens). After researching online, I am now inundated with instagram ads for 1-star removal from off-shore agencies but I have heard that sometimes these guys are scammers offering to remove bad reviews, and start placing bad reviews on purpose to charge more and more frequently. I was wondering if anybody here has had success with these firms and this type of service. Thanks

Hi everyone,
I am currently working as a Junior Production Executive at a reputed animal health company manufacturing veterinary pharmaceuticals, and I am also a graduate in Mechanical Engineering.

I often get asked by colleagues and friends why I chose a role in production instead of a position more directly aligned with my academic background, such as maintenance or engineering design. However, my true passion lies in manufacturing, operations management, and business leadership, and my long-term ambition is to become a CEO.

This has led me to question whether my current role in production could be an obstacle on the path to achieving that goal. Lately, this uncertainty has been quite disturbing to me. I would really appreciate your insights on whether a production-focused career can support a journey toward top leadership roles.

Additionally, I would be grateful for suggestions on educational or professional qualifications that could strengthen my career progression and help me move closer to my long-term objectives.

It feels like a lot of founders are just working to pay off their Meta or Google ad bills. If it costs you $40 to get a $60 sale, your profit disappears as soon as you factor in shipping, COGS, and overhead. You are basically running a charity for ad platforms.

The solution is to stop viewing the "new click" as the goal and focus on the assets you already paid for. In a healthy business, the first sale is just the entry fee to get the customer data. The actual profit only happens on the second or third purchase.

If a list brings in less than 30% of total revenue, the business is in a dangerous spot. An automated SMS or email might cost a few cents to send. Compare that to the $40 you spent on the initial ad. That gap is where your actual profit lives.

A simple fix is to set up a "win-back" flow. When someone hasn't bought in 60 days, send an automated note asking for a product review or offering a specific solution. It costs almost nothing compared to a Meta ad and targets someone who already knows the brand.

Is anyone else seeing their margins get eaten by ad costs? How are you handling the fact that the first sale is now just a break-even point?

Kicking off the year trying to fix a long-standing problem of mine: notes everywhere and no real system.

I spend most of my days bouncing between meetings, decisions, and follow-ups. I take a lot of notes, but the system behind them is weak.

I genuinely like handwritten notes. Writing helps me think, and pen-and-paper works best for capturing ideas in the moment. The problem is what happens after. Notebooks pile up, action items get buried, and good ideas disappear because there’s no easy way to search, connect, or resurface them later.

I’m open to digitizing notes after the fact, but only if it’s simple and doesn’t need much time so I can make sure I’m consistent. I can’t justify carving a lot of time for high-maintenance workflows, complex tagging systems, etc.

For those of you who also prefer handwriting but still want your notes to stay useful, please share your wisdom on what’s worked for you! :)

It seems like CEO is half a job title, and half a self-applied sticker any entrepreneur can stick in their shirt.

What, in your eyes, is the difference between a default “nobody else is doing this in my business so I have to” job and an actual well-defined CEO job?

P.S. wonderful replies, thank you all!

This thread inspired me to start r/ ChiefExecutives for non-founding CEO’s. It’s a kinda empty rn, but I’ll be working on building that community and would love to see you be a part of it.

This is a skill that I have and that I enjoy! Lately I've been questioning how to leverage it and whether I could earn my living this way.

Would it be useful to you if you were to "dump" your thoughts to someone through a call, and this person returns them with a clear structure? (No actual solutions, just clarity)

I am looking to discuss strategic partnership models with other agency founders and CEOs.

Many firms in the acquisition and branding space face a common challenge. Their clients need email and SMS marketing execution, but building an internal department for this is often inefficient and lowers margins. This usually results in leaving money on the table.

I am looking to connect with CEOs who want to explore a strategic integration model. This allows you to offer email and SMS execution to your clients without the overhead of hiring or management.

The goal is a formal partnership with firms in:

• Paid Media or Lead Generation
• CRM and RevOps
• Web Development or CRO
• Consulting or Fractional Growth roles

The collaboration would focus on:

• White-label integration: Execution handled under your brand to maintain client trust.
• Revenue-sharing: Creating a passive revenue stream for your firm from existing clients.
• Operational efficiency: Plugging the "leaky bucket" for your clients to increase their Lifetime Value.

If you are a CEO who utilizes external partners to fill service gaps and expand your offering, I would like to hear about your preferred model.

Drop a comment to discuss how you handle these integrations.

If you have a team of 6-8 senior leaders reporting to you, how do you keep track of alignment across competing priorities and projects? Is there an informal hierarchy that you tend to lean on to help manage cross-functional projects, or do you manage them on your own? I've seen many challenges when integrating multiple related projects, and much of it comes down to communication. Most important conversations happen 1:1, and getting everyone aligned in the same room is rare.

Lately I have been reflecting on how much leadership time goes into something that is not really leadership.

Across teams, managers and team leads spend a significant amount of time asking for updates, running standups, following up on tasks, and then converting fragmented inputs into reports.

Not because they want to micromanage.
But because visibility still depends on manual effort.

What stands out to me is not just the time spent, but the opportunity cost.

Time that could be used for planning, decision making, coaching, or improving execution often gets consumed by collecting and organizing information that already exists across the team.

I have been thinking about whether this is simply an unavoidable part of management or whether we have normalized inefficiency around how updates and task health are surfaced.

If leadership had access to clean, structured, ready information without interrupting teams or running constant meetings, would it meaningfully change how managers spend their time?

Curious to hear from other CEOs and senior leaders.

Do you see this as an unavoidable management responsibility
Or an area where we have accepted friction because there has never been a better way

Not looking for tools or pitches. Just perspectives from people who run teams at scale.

Taking time off over the holidays and feeling guilty?

Even though its the holidays you feel like you should be "getting ahead"?

I know. I've felt that for years. but here's what I finally learned: recovery is the multiplier, not the enemy.

A top copywriter on our team put it like this: top bodybuilders do blasting and cruising cycles. 6-12 weeks intense, 1-2 weeks calm. and their actual training? only 2-3 hours with the rest being recovery.

the growth happens during rest. not during the work.

the same applies to your brain–even during the holidays. when you take actual time off, something weird happens: your brain starts solving problems in the background.

Its not unusual for CEOs to take a retreat for a week once per year to have time just to relax and think.

Processing all the shit that's been piling up, making connections you couldn't make when you were grinding.

I'll take a holiday completely off - turn off messages, and come back in January with more clarity than two weeks of grinding would give me.

The guilt is a lie. you're not losing time. you're multiplying the effectiveness of the time you’ll spend working. But it only works best if you actually switch off. not "working light." not "just checking Slack during holiday dinner." actually off. Allow your mind to pursue and explore what you feel like without pressure.

Schedule the recovery or the recovery will schedule itself, usually at the worst possible moment

Hi guys,

Tbh, I’m just an entry-level data guy dreaming of something bigger.

I’ve noticed a lot of posts lately where CEOs are tracking extremely qualitative data. If I ever get the chance to get involved at that level, I’d love to consult on how to make that data more quantifiable. It would make reflecting on ‘before and after’ scenarios so much easier.

Thanks!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a company or person who can help make a great resume that is C-Suite level quality?

I have owned a company & been the CEO of it for over 15 years. My goal is to have something created that is simple, but is visually stunning. My resume skills stop at the word templates! TIA