A Day In The Life Of A CEO At Cleantech Inc.
A CEO's day varies drastically, but for Sean at Cleantech Inc., it centers around "driving business" through networking with key decision-makers to understand their needs, and practicing "LMA (Lead, Manage, and Hold Accountable)" to empower the leadership team to solve problems independently, even if it means learning from failures rather than seeking approval. Sean emphasizes fostering autonomy and learning within the team, believing that individuals "get paid well to do their job well" and learn from their experiences.
Leadership, Networking, Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, Business Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sean Meer
Owner, CEO
Cleantech Inc.
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey
Finance
Consulting & Related Professional Services, Real Estate
Sales and Client Management
Scholarship Recipient, Greek Life Member, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Networking and building relationships with decision-makers in the target market is a crucial aspect of the CEO's role, involving understanding their needs and challenges to inform the company's solutions.
2. A significant part of the CEO's day involves leading, managing, and holding the leadership team accountable (LMA), ensuring they have the resources they need while empowering them to make independent decisions.
3. The CEO encourages a culture of learning from failures, allowing team members to experiment with solutions, understand why they might not work, and develop better strategies for the future.
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a CEO look like?
A day in the life of a CEO looks different everywhere you look at them. Some are lunatics, some are incredibly lazy, and apparently many are psychopaths. But they all do something different.
There's no exact standard operating procedure for how to run your company. For me, we are a very small company with around 30 employees. It's not like I'm the CEO of Google; it's two very different roles, even with the same job title.
Ultimately, a day in my life looks like driving business for our business. I go out and meet people who are decision-makers in the large facilities we clean, who are in our clearly defined target market. I spend time connecting with them and hearing about their current cleaning company issues. Then, I think of ways to get that feedback to the team so they can create solutions.
This way, when those people eventually ask us to clean their business, our team is prepared because they know what's needed. So, a lot of it is networking.
The other portion of my role is what's called LMA: Lead, Manage, and Hold Accountable. Our entire leadership team receives what they need, I hear their concerns, and I help them solve problems. Ultimately, I empower them to make decisions on their own.
Often, people come to me asking for approvals. I tell them they don't need my approval and that I'd rather they think through their solution and move forward. If it fails, that's great because they learn why it doesn't work and can think of a different solution.
They can then say, "Hey Sean, we tried this, it didn't work, here's why, and here's what we'll do next time." I think that's what a good leader does. I don't micromanage anyone. If they ask for help or a solution, I'm always there for them.
But I'm never there to tell them how to do things, per se. They get paid well to do their job well, and I know they can. If they can't, then they learn how to do it.