I was talking to a friend recently over a cup of coffee and I told him I wasn’t even sure what Founder CEO means anymore. This is the way I am usually introduced whenever I’m speaking. Of course I know the literal translation, but I wasn’t sure what it meant in the overall scheme of things; as in my role within the organization.
Without much hesitation, my friend said, “Big Picture”. I replied, “What?” “A CEO is supposed to see the big picture”, he said.
Being involved in an organization such as Crime Survivors and doing a lot of the grass roots type of work that we do, it’s easy to not see the forest from the trees. It’s easy to get caught up in the fine details and … minutia. When he said that, it really put things into perspective.
There’s only 24 hours in a day and at one point you have to ask the question, “How is my time best served?” You can’t do everything, nor should you do everything because you’ll run yourself into the ground. And it’s not fair to the others who want to help and make their contributions made.
I should be concentrating more on victims, survivors and their families. I should be helping them to break the cycles of victimization, provide hopeful healing and give them the tools so they can survive and thrive. This is why I’m here and why our organization exists in the first place.
Obviously, a CEO tries to set the tone and tenor of the organization’s public persona. Things like the message, the mission statement, goals and values – all of this says, “This is who we are and this is what we do.”
It can be tricky. For example, should we be pursuing a Resource Center? We’ll need it now more than ever, especially since the offices that we’ve been using are no longer available to us. Then too, I want our donors’ monies going directly to programs, services, trainings and events – not brick and mortar. CEOs are always thinking about sustainability and expansion, but where is the balance? These are questions that have to be sorted out.
I came across an interesting quote recently on leadership: “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” by Warren G Bennis. I contemplated on this for quite a while and the more I thought about it the more I liked it. I thought about some obvious – and not so obvious – individuals who fit that description. The obvious ones and my favorites: FDR, Ronald Reagan and Mother Teresa. The not so obvious; Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and Tyler Perry.
So big picture – yea – all these people saw and believed in the big picture. They somehow overcame huge odds, had a vision, and through the sheer force of their personalities, were able to transform their vision into reality.
I’m learning. I’m changing. I try to emulate. I can only aspire to be like any of these people.
With Faith there is Hope.
PW