Cameron Herold says CEOs who don't live their company's core values will destroy the organization. When a leader arrives late to meetings, they violate promises, respect, and pride all at once. His fix: end every meeting five minutes early so the next one starts on time.
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One of my biggest pet peeves about entrepreneurs, and this is a massive problem for your company, if you do this as a CEO or entrepreneur, when the entrepreneur or CEO says things or acts in a way where they're saying, do as I say, not as I do. And let me explain what I mean. Your core values as a company have to be top down, meaning the CEO has to live and obsess with their own core values before you can expect anyone else in the company to. So I'll show you an example of how this breaks down inside of a company, and it is still, to this day one of my biggest pet peeves as a CEO. As a CEO, as somebody who's built multiple companies that you know the name of, when the CEO breaks their own core values, the entire company crumbles underneath it. So you're hurting yourself. So here's an example where it breaks down today. As an example, some of my favorite sets of core values are deliver what you promise, respect the individual, find a better way. Those four values are pretty fundamental in almost every organization or could be as part of your core values. So if you think about those core values for a second, and as an entrepreneur, you show up late for meetings, you show up late for a zoom call. What typically happens is you walk into the room, you're like, oh, sorry about that. I was really, really busy. Well, yes, so was everybody else. Sorry about that. I was just getting off of a call. Yes, so was everybody else. Now, if your employees were showing up late for a meeting, you would literally blow a gasket, right? You would lose parts. You'd be pissed off at your employees if they were showing up late for meetings. Because the reality is, showing up late for a meeting does not deliver what you promise. If you promise to be there for 10 o', clock, be there for 10 o'. Clock. It's not respecting the individual because the other people were there. You're not respecting them. So why are you doing it? Finding a better way would be, how can I actually handle all the other stuff that I'm doing and show up on time so you're really breaking 4 of your company's own core values by showing up and saying, sorry, I'm late, What you're really saying when you say, I'm sorry, I'm late, when you really show up saying, I'm sorry, I'm late, what you're really saying there is f you I'm disrespectful. I think my time's a little bit more valuable than yours. That's what you're actually saying. So the rant that I'm on right now is a leader has to actually live their own company core values before you can expect anyone else in the organization to. And saying sorry actually means I'm disrespectful. So why don't you create a system as an example with this meeting, one where you finish every meeting and you finish every phone call five minutes early. That way you have time to go down the hall, talk to your assistant, get a cup of coffee, go to the bathroom and sit down and start the meeting exactly on time or start the phone call exactly on time. That is respecting the individual. That is having pride in all you do. That is delivering what you promise. And that is a better way to actually ensure that you live the core values. So the CEO has to live their own core values. My grandmother used to say, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.
