Hiring the CEO of YOU
The single most important hiring decision you will ever make in your life.
It does not matter who you work for, or if you are part of a large or small organization, or even if you are an organization of one. In any of these instances, you are still in charge of hiring the CEO of YOU. The single most important hiring decision you will ever make in your life. You are hiring her/him for the rest of your life.
Are you ready to interview the candidates for the role of CEO of YOU?
Let’s first define the role and key responsibilities we expect the ideal candidate to perform exceptionally well. Keep in mind that you are hiring her/him for the rest of your life.
These responsibilities define what success looks like in the long run. Many job descriptions fail to capture the essence of the value to be added by the role. We will avoid this trap. Let’s go over the top 5 responsibilities:
Responsible for clearly pointing out where you are going and why: no wind is good or bad if you don’t know the direction you should be sailing to. If you see the path, you also need to see the reason you are going that direction. Only when you know “why” you are going that way you can genuinely aim with real intent, and start enjoying the journey, appreciate its challenges and opportunities, fearless the unknown.
Responsible for setting your core values: that means knowing what you care for, what matters to you. Setting your core values is critical, as it sets the course for things you are willing to do, but also things that you will never do during the journey.
Responsible for your overall health: she/he will define your daily routines and habits. The CEO of YOU creates the conditions for you to accomplish critical steps for optimum health. She/he chooses how much time you will have for physical exercise, sleeping/resting, and connecting with loved ones. She/he controls what you eat, selecting foods that increase or decrease your energy level in and outside of work.
Responsible for managing your emotions: any journey is filled with ups and downs, curveballs, and distractions. Emotions, when poorly managed, will likely create a foggy view in critical moments of the journey. You run the risk of losing your direction, of having fear kicking in and starting to give you orders that could compromise the entire journey.
Responsible for setting goals and priorities: any journey has milestones, and she/he defines what will be measured to ensure you are progressing in the right direction, fully aligned with your core values.
Ok, it is time for the interview. The CEO of YOU is the leader inside of you. She/he is waiting for you in front of a mirror. Welcome her/him, thank her/him for showing interest in the job and YOU.
Let’s get the interview started! Take your time, please don’t rush it. Make sure you go over each of the five responsibilities above in detail. Ask her/him to give you real-life examples of how she/he approaches each. Search for examples of best practices, things she/he did in the past, examples of failures and recoveries, what would she/he would do differently. Ask her/him about self-doubts and insecurities (we are all broken in one way or another) and what she/he is doing to overcome.
It is not an easy interview. Maybe it is best if you interview more than once, double-check the responses, and really take your time.
So, how did the interview go? Are you ready to make an offer to the CEO of YOU?
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