5 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Became a CEO

From the surface, becoming a CEO can seem like reaching the highest of the mountain — a ultimate, triumphant chapter after a protracted climb. However this is the actual story: It is not the tip. It is a new starting. One stuffed with curveballs, late-night fear classes and extra classes than any enterprise faculty may ever cram right into a syllabus.

As CEO of BELFOR, the world’s largest property restoration firm, I’ve had the unbelievable privilege (and, let’s be sincere, the extreme stress) of serving to develop our staff from 19 individuals to greater than 13,000 throughout the globe. That journey has taught me rather a lot — about management, about individuals and about what it actually means to hold the load of the phrase “CEO.”

So, should you’re stepping into leadership (or dreaming in regards to the day you do), listed here are 5 issues I want somebody had pulled me apart and advised me sooner:

Associated: 4 Critical Business Lessons I’ve Learned as a CEO

1. The stress by no means lets up — and that is not a foul factor

When your selections have an effect on others, the stress does not take a break day. What stunned me most? How private it will get. Being a pacesetter is not nearly technique; it is about coronary heart. It is about caring deeply. Generally too deeply. DDI reviews that one in six leaders really feel burned out in 2025. A study from Deloitte discovered that 41% of executives expertise excessive stress, and 36% are utterly exhausted.

This is the reality: Stress comes with the job. And as soon as I ended making an attempt to dodge it, I realized to hold it like a badge of honor. That stress builds resilience. It grounds you. It reminds you that your work issues. Should you’re on the lookout for consolation, management is probably not your path. However should you’re on the lookout for which means? Stress simply is perhaps your compass.

2. The journey is extra necessary than the vacation spot

After I was beginning out, I had my eyes locked on the subsequent large purpose: the promotion, the win, the title. I used to be so centered on climbing the ladder that I practically missed what was taking place on the ladder.

Management isn’t a finish line. It is a street journey, full with pit stops, scenic detours and the occasional flat tire. One of the best leaders I do know aren’t obsessive about arriving; they’re dialed in to the experience. There is a motive the windshield is wider than the rearview mirror. Positive, we look again, however we transfer ahead. Each problem, each small win, each laborious lesson shapes who we turn out to be.

So, should you’re feeling behind or not sure, keep in mind this: Completed is completed. Continue to grow. Maintain transferring. Be the CEO of your own life — the Cheerleader, Fanatic and Optimist who sees potential, even on the powerful days.

Associated: 3 Reasons Why ‘The Journey Is the Reward’

3. Lead by doing, not simply by deciding

I will always remember my time on Undercover Boss. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with our staff — cleansing, lifting, listening — modified the way in which I take into consideration management. It wasn’t simply eye-opening. It was heart-opening.

At BELFOR, we do not print titles on our enterprise playing cards. Why? As a result of when somebody wants assist, it does not matter what your title is. It issues what you do. Actual management is not about barking orders from a nook workplace. It is about exhibiting up. Rolling up your sleeves. Listening twice as a lot as you discuss (there is a motive we have two ears and one mouth) and main by instance.

A Harvard Business Review study backs this up: Leaders who match actions to phrases construct belief. And I will add this — in addition they construct household. Everybody in your staff has a narrative. A battle. A spark. Once you lead with belief, compassion and listening, you gentle the trail for others to guide, too.

4. Belief is your strongest device

CEO life will be overwhelming. So, this is the lifeline: You do not have to do it alone.

A few of my greatest choices began with another person’s thought. That is the ability of belief. Once you consider in your staff and present it, you unlock one thing extraordinary. Delegating is not giving up management. It is sharing perception. It is letting individuals know, “I see what you are able to do. Go for it.”

A tradition constructed on belief creates a ripple impact: extra engagement, extra ownership, extra magic. When your staff feels trusted, they rise — not simply to the event, however past it. One individual CAN make a distinction. Generally, that one individual is the one you empowered.

Associated: Strong Leaders Use These 4 Strategies to Build Trust in Their Workplace

5. Vulnerability is not weak point — it is energy

Someplace alongside the road, we picked up this concept that robust leaders are powerful, silent, unshakeable. I say this with all my coronary heart: Let that go. Probably the most highly effective moments in my profession have come after I let down the partitions. After I requested for assist. After I cried. After I let individuals see the actual Sheldon — flaws, fears and all.

We spend most of our lives at work. If we won’t be ourselves there, the place can we? Vulnerability does not make you smooth. It makes you human. And humanity is the heartbeat of management.

When your staff sees that you simply’re not good — however you care deeply, strive laborious and present up anyway, they really feel protected to do the identical. That is the place belief begins. That is the place innovation is born. That is the place all people’s little hero inside them comes out.

If I may hop in a time machine and discuss to my youthful self, moving into that CEO seat for the primary time, I would say this: “The title does not make you a pacesetter. Your actions do. You are going to mess up. You are going to really feel overwhelmed. However should you keep rooted in empathy and fervour; have a look at, stroll with, really feel and reside compassion; consider in and belief your individuals; and maintain your eyes on the street forward … you will not simply develop. You may lead with purpose, with ardour and with coronary heart.”

As a result of management is not about having all of the solutions. It is about strolling together with your staff when you information, comply with and really take care of every member of the household you are now honored to be a part of. Collectively.