Five Myths About CEOsSample

Five Myths About CEOs - Part III

In their book, The CEO Next Door, authors Elena Botelho and Kim Powell dived deeply into survey data to determine what similar attributes surfaced for successful CEOs. Their findings debunked several myths we sometimes hold about CEOs. So far, we have looked at the myths that CEOs have larger-than-life personalities and that CEOS are destined for greatness from an early age. This time, we will look at a third myth: CEOs have flawless resumes.

Very untrue! In fact, these researchers discovered that 45% of CEO candidates have had at least one major career blowup that ended a job or was extremely costly!

Rather than viewing their stumbles as failures, the successful CEO candidates admitted their defeats and identified the lessons learned. Then they moved forward.

God is a god of second chances! He told the Israelites in Ezekiel 18:30, "Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall."

If you’ve had a major defeat at work. Own it, learn from it, and move forward.

Questions for Reflection: 

• What has been a major defeat in the workplace that you can own and learn from? 
• Are you embarrassed or ashamed of your defeat, or do you see it as a steppingstone from sin to God’s grace? 
• Are you tempted to gloss over your workplace defeats on your resume? Do you feel differently about your workplace defeats based on the authors’ research?