Executive Mindset

An executive mindset does not depend on the job title but on the ability to synthesize, direct, and know when to enforce and when to break the rules.

When a startup is formed, sometimes the co-founders start adopting C-level titles without realizing the skillsets and experience actually required to take on an executive role. The “secret” ingredient to being an effective executive is something I like to call the “executive mindset.” And you cannot get it by adopting a job title because it is a constellation of skills that enable one to assume an executive leadership role.

Management versus Executive Leadership

Managers and individual contributors are invaluable team members who faithfully and consistently execute the processes established by the organization. Managers will typically be responsible for honing and optimizing the processes and ensuring throughput and workflow.

In addition to doing management tasks, executive leaders will keep an eye on the north star based on the company’s stage and will be able and willing to choose between enforcing the defined process and breaking the rules when needed. The most significant difference between managers and executives is that executives will be comfortable blazing new trails and changing the rules. In contrast, managers will be focused on enforcing and following the rules.

Note that both are needed as an organization grows. Breaking the rules all the time just generates chaos. But always following the rules without considering whether it is time to break a rule can sub-optimize the results.

Elements of Executive Mindset

Having an executive mindset is an actual constellation of skills and personal characteristics that enable someone to extend above being an effective manager and into the realm of executive leadership. Here are some of the elements of an executive mindset.

• In pursuing the north star, an executive leader must be able to visualize the layers of interlocking goals. They are responsible for defining the problem, understanding, and balancing competing goals and objectives. To succeed, the executive has to be able to hold in mind that interlocking puzzle of goals and decide when to enforce standards and when to set them aside temporarily and then expand, reestablish, or improve them.
   
• A functional executive leader must determine how best to accomplish the company’s north star within their scope of responsibility while being mindful of the impacts on and of others, including customers, company stakeholders, and other groups within the organization. This awareness of the broader context is an essential executive skill set.
  
  
• A leader with an executive mindset possesses strong problem-solving skills. They must identify the problem, including understanding its dimensions, root causes, and what needs to be done to solve it. The executive’s ability to synthesize and recognize patterns is especially essential when innovating and pathfinding.
  
  
• Executive mindset includes a feel for urgency and timing. There is a necessary balance between driving to move ahead and take the next hill as well as sensitivity for when more information or the team’s capacity argues to a slower pace. The executive mind will constantly weigh the various factors to find an optimal balance between urgency and sustainability and evaluate when the necessary elements have coalesced to enable effective decisions and progress.
  
  
• Executive mindset comes alongside leadership skills because executives will be responsible for leading teams of various scales. They must possess the ability to define a direction, point the team in that direction, and motivate that team to accomplish the goals. Executives will be adept at perceiving and then clearing the blockers that stand in the way of achieving the goal, either directly or indirectly.
  
  
• As corporate leaders, executives are responsible for establishing and enforcing the standard policies and processes to build the organizational capability to execute. They are often leaders who are stepping back and thinking about the next capacity that needs to be built, and then securing the required resources and putting in the necessary people, processes, technologies, and organizational structures to make it so. This requires an executive’s ability to look ahead and see what is missing and needs to be established and what needs to be evolved to the next layer—followed by the ability to rally the resources and direct the development to build the capability.
  
  
• Executive mindset has a vital element of decisiveness. An executive must be able and willing to collect the minimum necessary information, discern the options, weigh the various factors, probabilities, and possibilities, and then decide the path for the team. An executive cannot be unwilling to commit, even in the face of imperfect information. They must be able to independently evaluate and then feel empowered to choose and commit.
  
  
• Finally, and perhaps most distinctively, those with an executive mindset can keep in mind the why behind the rule (aka standard process) and feel a sense of ownership and confidence for achieving that, even when sometimes that means breaking the lower-level process or rule. This confidence to discern when to stick with the defined process and when to break away from it is a hallmark of an executive mindset.

Great managers are essential to startup success; however, they are not enough. You need some executives empowered with an executive mindset to build the company effectively.