Mark MacLeod, a CFO and executive coach, argues self-awareness beats grit or charisma as the top CEO trait. He uses Shopify's Tobi Lütke as an example of a leader who continually re-qualifies for his role. Five practices build it: mindfulness, 360-degree feedback, journaling, emotional intelligence, and working with a coach.
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What's the number one trait that separates successful CEOs from everyone else? You might think resilience, grit, determination, high energy, charisma. All important, but not number one. The answer is self-awareness. Before we dig into self-awareness, some background on me. I'm Mark MacLeod. I've spent decades working with venture-backed CEOs, first as a CFO, then as a VC, investment banker, and now as a coach. My purpose is to help CEOs optimize their energy and clarity so they can unlock revenue growth in their companies. If this is the kind of information that helps you, hit subscribe. I drop videos every week on how to scale without burning out and without limits. Back to self-awareness. There's so much hype in the startup world, so much BS. It's hard to know what is real. Founders can get caught up in their own hype. And when you believe you don't stink, you stop growing. The best CEOs never fall for this trap. They see everything about themselves and their companies, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, offers one great example on the power of self-awareness. Tobi is in his 20th year of Shopify. Yes, the same company, but Tobi's job has transformed completely. Multiple times. For years, Toby has talked about having to re-qualify for his job every year. If your company doubles this year, you need to double as a leader. If you don't, you fall behind. Self-awareness is the skill that lets you grow faster than your business. It's what tells you where you need to grow to keep being the leader your company needs. Here are 5 ways to build this skill. 1. Practice mindfulness and meditation. Stay present. Reduce stress. Understand your thoughts and emotions. Give space for insights to arise. Increase your ability to concentrate and focus when you work. Number 2: Seek honest, complete feedback. Ask your team, your peers, your board, mentors, Do 360-degree reviews, check in, be a learning machine. Understand how others see you and your decisions. 3. Self-reflection. Ideally daily or weekly, journal if it helps. Komboets back to Toby. He replays his day every single day, looking for what to change or improve. Every day he goes through a learning loop. A 1% improvement per day is is a 37x transformation in a year. Fourth suggestion, develop emotional intelligence. Let's get in touch with your emotions, right? We bury feelings. And when we do, they don't disappear. They show up as physical symptoms. This is deeply unhealthy. Five, get a coach or a mentor. CEOs don't get a lot of feedback. That external perspective really helps identify blind spots, accelerate growth. The best performers in every discipline have coaches. If you want to be the best, you need one. Someone who can shine a mirror and have the real conversations and accelerate your growth. The biggest outcomes in startup land are founder-led, start to finish. If you want a massive exit, make self-awareness your superpower. And if you want help making this shift and doing the inner work to become self-aware, Check out Limitless.co, a community of CEOs who are prioritizing physical, mental, and spiritual health to give them increased energy and mental clarity to grow their companies faster. Thank you.
