CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
Scribner (March 2022)

How and why the best “playmakers” can — and do — write their own “playbook”

As I began to read the Introduction to CEO Excellence, I was again reminded of Warren Buffett’s “marching orders” to CEOs of the operating companies within the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. They are given a simple set of commands: to run their business as if (1) they are its sole owner, (2) it is the only asset they hold, and (3) they can never sell or merge it for a hundred years. They and other CEOs enjoy a unique position in corporate America and, without exception, are — as  Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra describe it — “excellent in at least a few areas, and do a solid if not an exemplary job in the others.”

The key point for those who select a new CEO is to locate the best-qualified person, given the organization’s current and imminent challenges. For example, years ago Reggie Jones selected Jack Welch to succeed him as CEO of GE because the corporation urgently needed someone to, in Jones’s words, “blow it up.”

As they explain, Dewar, Keller, and Malhotra set out to answer this question: “What does a CEO really do?” And then, “Which CEOs do it best?” Over time, they concentrated on two separate but related objectives: Identifying 200 of the most effective CEOs, and, interviewing a representative sample (65) who “moved the needle most in those areas that can be [significantly] influenced by the top leader.”

So, what separates the best CEOs from the rest is their consistently superior performance in those areas of greatest importance to the organizations they lead. These are the six crucial mindsets on which Dewar, Keller, and Malhotra focus, each accompanied by an observation I have added:

1. BE BOLD
“Fortune favors the bold.” Attributed to Terence (c. 190-159 B.C.) in his play Phormio (161 B.C.).

2. TREAT THE SOFT STUFF AS THE HARD STUFF
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

3. SOLVE FOR THE TEAM’S PSYCHOLOGY
“People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt

4. HELP DIRECTORS HELP THE BUSINESS
“It’s critical to understand that the board will operate at the level you bring them to.” Richard Davis (CEO, U.S. Bancorp)

5. START WITH “WHY?”
“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year.” Simon Sinek

6. DO WHAT ONLY YOU CAN DO
“If not now, when? If not you, who?” Hillel the Elder

“Ultimately, the six mindsets that our research unearthed are what we believe differentiate the best leaders of the twenty-first century from the rest. Their mindsets enable them to navigate the dominant features of their environment — new competition, disruptive change, digitization, pressing social and environmental issues, or economic meltdowns — with wild success, while others wallow in mediocrity. The simple fact is that the top of the pack [begin italics] think [end italics] differently, which causes them to take profoundly different actions day in and day out.”  [Page 14]

I commend the coauthors on the abundance of valuable information, insights, and counsel they provide in CEO Excellence. Be sure to check out Appendix 2 which consists of brief but substantial profiles of the 65 excellent CEOs. My guess is that the greatest strengths each possessed when considered to serve as CEO were precisely what was needed to achieve the given objectives [begin italics] at that time [end italics].

Consider, for example, Vig Knudstorp. He was selected to be president and CEO of the LEGO Group (2004-2016) and now serves as its executive chair. “Turned the Danish family-owned firm into the world’s most profitable toymaker, growing revenue fivefold and EBITDA sixteenfold. Centralized leadership, divested non-core assets, streamlined creativity, and embraced LEGO’s adult consumers to reinvigorate the loss-making company.” As is also true of the other 64, he was the right person at the right time to provide great leadership in the given context. LEGO’s governing board also deserves credit for making the right choice and then supporting the recovery of LEGO “one brick at a time.”

As you read this brilliant contribution to thought leadership, be sure to highlight key passages. I also suggest that you keep a lined notebook near at hand in which to record your own comments, questions, page references, etc. These two tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key material later.

I congratulate Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra on providing an abundance of rock-solid information, insights, and counsel. The value of this book to CEOs, as well as to those who aspire to become one, is incalculable. Bravo!