Performance Won't Make You CEO. These 5 Things Will.

If you're a COO, CFO, a GM, or any senior executive who has decided that the CEO role is where you're heading, this video is for you. Because in my experience, most executives who want the top job are working incredibly hard on the wrong things. They're performing, they're delivering, they're doing the job in front of them brilliantly, and none of that on its own is going to get them the CEO role. Today I want to give you the 5 things you actually need to do in the next 12 months if you're serious about making this happen. Not 5 more things to add to your to-do list. 5 things that, if you do them deliberately, will fundamentally change the conversation around your name when the right role comes up. Number 1, get clear on what you actually want. The first thing, and I know this sounds obvious, is to get specific about what you're actually working towards. Not the CEO role— that's not specific enough. What kind of company? What size? What industry? What stage? Is it a turnaround? A growth play? A stable operation that needs steady leadership? Is it public or private? ASX listed or privately held? The executives who move fastest toward the CEO role are the ones who can answer those questions precisely. Because precision creates focus and focus creates momentum. If you can't answer those questions right now, that's your first piece of work. Get specific. The more clearly you can describe the CEO role you're building toward, the more deliberately you can position yourself for it. Number 2, build your external profile now, not later. So the second thing is to start building your external profile, and I mean right now, not when you're ready, not when the right role comes up. Here's a problem most executives face. They're highly visible inside their organisation, their performance is well known, the results are on the record, But outside their organization, they're not known. The people who appoint CEOs, the boards, the executive search firms, the chairpeople, chairman, chairwoman, most of them have never heard of you. And that means when a role comes up that you'd be perfect for, your name is not in the first conversation. The fix is deliberate external visibility, LinkedIn content that demonstrates your thinking. Speaking at industry events, contributing to conversations in your sector, getting to know— getting known in the circles that matter. And this takes time, which is exactly why you should start now. Number 3, activate the right relationships. So the third thing is to deliberately activate the relationships that will actually move the needle. Now, that's not networking in the traditional sense. It's not collecting LinkedIn connections. I mean identifying the specific 10 to 15 people who matter most for the role you're pursuing and building genuine, substantive relationships with them. Executive search firms who work in your sector, board directors at the kinds of companies you want to lead, CEO and chairpersons who move in the right circles. The reality is that most senior executive appointments come through relationships, not job boards. Someone in a boardroom says, what about this person? And that conversation starts well before the role is advertised. The question is whether your name is in that conversation or not. If you haven't already identified the 10 to 15 people who matter most for where you're heading, your name won't. Be in that group. So then think deliberately about how to build the real relationship with each of them. Number 4, do the interior work. The 4th thing is the one that most executives either don't know about or leave until it's too late. The interior work. Most leadership development focuses on the external game— strategy, governance, stakeholder management, financial acumen. And those things matter. But the executives who get chosen for the CEO role have something else— a settled authority, a clarity about who they are as a leader and how they lead, a self-awareness that closes a gap between how they think they're landing and how they're actually landing. That doesn't come from a course, doesn't come from an MBA, comes from deliberate work on the interior game. The thing underneath the performance. Because here's what I know from 30 years in senior leadership roles and working privately with executives for the CEO role. The boards and the search firms assessing you are not just looking at what you've done. They're not just looking at the resume in front of them. They're looking at who you are and they can feel the difference. Number 5, get a proper honest mirror. This is the 5th thing, and in some ways the most important. It is to find someone who will give you completely honest feedback on where you actually are. That's not your manager. It's not your peers. It's not the people whose careers depend on staying on your good side. It's someone with no agenda. Someone who's been where you're trying to get to. Someone who can tell you the truth about the gap between where you are and genuinely ready. Most executives don't have that person in their world, and as a result, they arrive at the CEO threshold with blind spots they don't know they have. They perform well in the interview, they feel ready, and they don't get the role, and they don't know why. The Honest Mirror is the thing that closes that gap. It's the most valuable investment you can make in the next 24 months. So there they are, the 5 things. Get specific about what you want. Build your external profile now. Activate the right relationships. Do the interior work. And find an honest mirror. None of these are complicated. All of them require deliberate effort. And the executives who are doing all 5 consistently over the next 12 months are the ones who will be in the conversation when the right role comes up. So if you're a senior executive who's serious about the CEO role and you want to talk about what this actually looks like for you, your specific situation, there's a link below. 30-minute discussion, no pitch, just an honest conversation. I'm Greg Stevenson, and this is what I do.