When a CEO truly focuses on leadership

To those of us who are in the business of helping leaders to be great leaders, Marshall Doyle really stands out. As a CEO of Cal-Cert, he has invested heavily in his own development as a leader and he has put the tools and concepts into practice in ways that have positively benefited himself as well as his team. Marshall is a sublime example of the evolution of a great leader because he takes his responsibility seriously and makes the adjustments necessary to grow himself as well as his team. He took his company from $350,000 to $6 million in annual revenue and he did it by making a study of his role as CEO and putting the hard work and effort in to making the critical shifts necessary to lead the organization he dreamed of. And all this—from a true engineer!

For some of hacks we learned from our podcast interview with Marshall, keep reading. To listen to the podcast episode, click here or the image below:

A lot of things come together if you get the leadership right. – Marshall Doyle

Get clear on your role

Leadership is not for the faint of heart. By nature, you are tempted to be active in all areas – rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work. Write yourself a job description and get feedback from your team about what you wrote up. This is a great process for getting to the nitty-gritty of what you should be focusing on and where others should be stepping up. You must be the leader, not a technician. Allow each team member to do what it is they do. Empower them.

Okay, so you’ve got the big ideas. Now put them into action.

You can only gather so much information. At some point, you must take the next step and implement. Your ideas have no value if not executed. The next steps are what leads to business growth and success.

Pick the right people with passion and drive.

Employees are the lifeblood of your business. Understand that others can do a better job than you if you carefully define the role and step back and let them do their job. Trust that they can do it!

Cultivate your employees’ passion.

An employee that is passionate about something you need done in your business will shine – and not just at that task. Their passion is often contagious and your business as a whole will thrive. Allow them to identify their Why? and actively work towards achieving it.

Identify what you are passionate about and just make it your life.

Figure out the parts of your role that make you tick and get focused on putting those things first. Work becomes fun and doesn’t even seem like work. Who doesn’t love to get paid for having fun!

As a CEO, if you’re not able to create life you love – whether because you can’t pay yourself enough, or you’re guilty for spending frivolously for fear of judgment of your employees, or you don’t feel like you can take time away – what is the point? Find a way to put yourself first. Your team should be motivated and proud watching you enjoy the fruits of your labor and if they’re not, should they really be on the team? Surround yourself with the right people, enjoy your work and your life, and the rest magically works out.