Think Like A CEO: Stop reacting, get out of your own head and take control of your role (The Effective CEO)

Everyone thinks that when you’re a CEO you live such an easy life, but they don’t understand the journey it takes to get you there. All the responsibilities, the strategic planning and decision making it takes to be at the top of your game takes a lot out of you, and sometimes you feel like you have no life outside of work. You might feel overwhelmed with everything going on, and you may not be as productive as you would like to be.In his book, Think Like A CEO: Stop reacting, get out of your own head and take control of your role, Byron Morrison helps you realize you don’t have to be in that state. You have a chance to change the way your life is heading. With his inspiring words and mental tasks, he helps you to “get out of your own head,” to stop reacting to the situation and people around you. He talks about strategic thinking and setting goals, quarterly goals. What you focus on has a huge impact on where you want to be. If you are busy trying to do things that can easily be delegated, then you won’t have time to focus on the bigger things. You will be too tired from your day of putting out fires and solving the smaller problems to focus on what you should have been focusing on from the start. And this sets you and your company back.One of my favorite lines from this book is “Speak less, listen more.” This can be used for nearly everything in life and is what I wish my former boss would have done for the team. If you stop to listen to what the others on your team have to offer, that may be what you need to get ahead in the game. What I really enjoyed about this book was the tasks he has after every chapter. Tasks that will guide you to being better at what you do. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be that you’re a CEO. It can help you with your life, in any role, personal or business. That’s what made this book such a great read!

Thinking is an underrated quality. Often times the doing is glorified more than the thinking. While doing is important, thinking matters even more. In order to outwork and outdo, you’ll need to outthink and out strategize.This is where this book comes in handy! It is a short read that offers bite-sized and actionable tips on how to approach your most important work as a CEO: thinking of the long-term irrespective of short-term challenges, prioritizes, and daily firefighting. Essentially it teaches you to become the Fire Marshall, not the fire fighter. Huge difference.It taps into what mindset you’ll need to create to set yourself up for success personally and professionally. My biggest takeaways are:-Outweigh your decisions. Not all decisions are created equally but all decisions are interconnected. What you decide on today will directly impact your future self.-How to breakdown your macro vision into micro focuses. The goal is to put your head down and work on the micro focuses that will move the needle forward towards your macro vision.-Auditing ideas. If you are like me, you have at least 1 or 2 new ideas daily that you want to pursue. However, the author recommends taking a moment to actually audit your ideas because often times passing on a fleeting idea will help you stay the course.-How to use and build leverage as a CEO. This sentence really resonated with me: “As a CEO, it’s not your job to do everything, and instead, it’s about bringing together the right people to create the results you want.”This is the second of the two books that I’ve read by the author, Byron Morrison. I’m looking forward to reading his most recent book as soon as it arrives!

I'm not a CEO, but I lead a sales team responsible for generating $20M in annual revenue, and this book is full of helpful strategies for planning, mindset, developing high performing teams and tips for how to respond when I feel overwhelmed or stressed. Easy read - I felt as if Byron was there in person coaching me as I was reading this book. I've underlined so many great tips in this book to put into practice. I know it'll be one of my leadership reference books for many years to come.

CEO's like myself can easily get caught up in the whirlwind of the moment that you let go of your true responsibilities. This book is very helpful in keeping one focused. From 1st generation business, starting from zero to revenues in the millions, and over 500 employees and 10 states... adjustment and change must take place. From doing everything to CEO. This book has been extremely helpful.

This book is all about controlling your mindset for the better. You have to build a better mindset if you want to go from entrepreneur to CEO. Byron Morrison says that the mindset required to be a founder, entrepreneur or manager is very different to that of being an effective CEO. As we dive into the book, Byron tells us how to deal with feeling overwhelmed and develop our intuition. Also, one of the most important things about a good CEO is to listen more than you speak. This can help you avoid making decisions that are shortsighted. You want people to be able to express new ideas and opinions rather than being dictated to. He also says that even though you may think you know the solution, there is always the possibility that you’re wrong, you’ve missed something, or that there’s a better way to achieve the result.

I’m not a CEO but I still found that the book not only contained solid advice but provided actionable take aways that I will be putting into use. Worth a read if you are finding yourself caught up in the busy trap.

As I read books to get a more understanding on business I come to realize that starting a business takes determination and persistence. Why did I take this journey? Because I don't want my talents to become acquiesce. This book is a good starting point(IMO) to get a basic understanding of your roles as CEO. I will read the first book so I can become effective. Go and re-read my highlights.