![]() ![]() How would people describe your approach to change? And how does that assessment fit within your current environment? Are there lots of big changes or are things pretty status quo? Is your CEO a Venturer or more cautious? Then once you have a handle on your current environment, do an honest assessment of yourself. So what should you do with all this information? Start simply. And if you’re the CEO being compared to Steve Jobs, you are going to feel pressure to undertake more audacious and difficult changes, just to have any hope of comparing favorably. ![]() Boards regularly compare their CEO to executives like the late Steve Jobs, who talked about making a dent in the universe, or other larger-than-life personalities. On your local playground you’ve probably seen some kids who look like they’re ready for the X-Games while others seem intimidated by the monkey bars.īut it’s also true that CEOs are often under great pressure to undertake audacious change. And this is generally observable in even very small children. It is true that some people are more predisposed to undertake significant change, climb higher mountains, and tolerate more risk. Is undertaking audacious change an inborn personality characteristic? Is it learned? Or is it some combination of the two? The truth is, we don’t definitively know, but it’s a good bet that both nature and circumstance have a role to play. But if you’re on the audacious end of the spectrum and your CEO is not, you might find yourself in political hot water. If you undertake change that’s too cautious, you risk being left behind. Do they undertake audacious and difficult change, or are they more cautious and circumspect? When it comes to figuring out what types of change you should pursue to advance your career, one important barometer is the type of change that’s generally supported in your company. It’s also a good measurement with which to evaluate your current CEO. And for anyone interested in discovering the secrets to becoming CEO, this is important data to absorb. But the linear relationship between one’s rung on the career ladder and audacious change is really striking. And obviously, if 45% of CEOS undertake big changes, that means 55% either embrace a more cautious change or avoid change altogether. It’s no guarantee of career success, of course. In fact, we might surmise from this data that perhaps one way to increase your odds of becoming CEO is to undertake more difficult and audacious change. And it’s no small coincidence that these characteristics are found more often in CEO roles than in frontline employees or junior managers. Venturers have some very distinct personality characteristics. They like to break through their comfort zones, so they regularly challenge themselves with audacious and difficult challenges. In fact, they find doing the same thing every day incredibly boring. And that means they’re also not terrified of failure, especially if they know they’ll find a chance to try again. ![]() They tend to like challenges and jump at the opportunity to be the first to do something new. They thrive when the environment or the work is constantly changing. Venturers are motivated by risk, change, and uncertainty. You can see from the chart that there is a very strong linear relationship between how high a person ranks in the company and how much they undertake audacious change.įrontline employees and junior managers are more likely to enjoy the traditional status quo, and if they do embrace change, it’s more likely to be cautious and measured.īy contrast, CEOs are much more likely to be the change advocates I call Venturers. The following chart shows the data for all job levels: ![]()
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