The 'Aloof CEO' - Striving for peer threshold and galvanising your relationship with the CEO

Possibly one of the most important learning experiences I’ve benefited from as a B2B coach working with larger organisations - figuring out how to manage the 'aloof CEO'

The beautiful Old Course in St Andrews. You can see the 18th green, the R&A, and the North Sea (Pictured from the Old Course Hotel, November 2023)

“Let all your efforts be directed to something, let it keep that end in view. It is not activity that disturbs people, but false conceptions of things that drive them mad.”

Seneca

The more experience I get working with clients, the better I am at getting ahead of problems before they derail the work.

Each new client is an opportunity to do a better job than the last. To learn from my previous experience and do better work.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing this; it’s a cycle of learning that should never end.

An important example of this is working with what I call ‘The Aloof CEO’, possibly one of the most important learning experiences I’ve benefited from as a B2B coach working with larger organisations.

If you work with an organisation where the CEO isn’t involved in the day-to-day work, this article will provide you with the playbook on how to manage this critical relationship.

What is the ‘Aloof CEO’?

This is when the CEO has ‘signed off’ on the project but will be somewhat detached from the work we’re doing with their company on a day-to-day basis.

What I’ve learned over the years is to see this situation as an invitation and an opportunity to galvanise my relationship with the CEO.

There are a few things that can go wrong, which I’ll get into, and of course, the worst-case scenario is that, without prior discussion, the CEO pulls the rug from under me and cancels the project without notice.

Another factor to keep in mind here is that, in my experience, clients have a lot to learn about managing internal stakeholders, and knowing this, I step forward to help manage the stakeholders so as to protect the future success of the work we’re doing.

So, the first lesson here is not to make assumptions about how the team you’re working with communicates ‘upwards’ and manages internal stakeholders. If you are going to assume anything, assume they’re not doing it very well.