When CEOs first reach out, I often sense a light disturbance in them.
Some CEOs move past this moment quickly – especially the entrepreneurially-minded CEO who prefers to focus on shiny new objects in the future as a way of preserving themselves. This can work for a while – until the signal returns again …
It returns for a reason: that CEO is being called to something more. Latent energy, or wisdom, or intuition, or healing that is trying to happen. Something is wanting to come out.
In a different context, this moment has a name. Joseph Campbell described it as the call to adventure — the point at which the current way of being starts to feel insufficient, even if it’s still functioning.
We don’t tend to use that language in business, so we misread the moment and treat it as something to solve quickly. It’s not – it’s a signal of something bigger.
The CEO is no longer being asked to simply run the business, but to reconsider it.
This is where it can become disorientating for the CEO. They came in with a small question, and suddenly, a much larger challenge is being posed to them. In their initial grappling with this bigger, more profound question, they realise that the capabilities that got them to this point still matter, but they don’t seem to be enough on their own. The strategies and metrics are still useful, but don’t tell the whole story. Even success, as it’s currently defined, can start to feel less compelling.
The natural response is to double down on planning, clarity and control. But this moment doesn’t seem to respond particularly well to that. It’s asking the CEO to pause and look around. To notice, rather than act.
If you’ve ever felt this kind of moment upon you, I can tell you one thing for sure: it’s not going away. You might be able to circumvent it, but it will come back stronger the next time around. It has a wisdom to it that is well beyond our cognitive ponderings, and it will not be defeated over the long term.
For those CEOs who do pause — even briefly — this moment often turns out to be more important than it first appeared. Not because it leads to a better plan, but because it changes the way the business is understood. It raises big questions that require grappling with, not a pithy answer:
- Is your business relevant?
- Are you happy?
- Are you doing what you’re destined to be doing?
- Can you be doing it better?
- Who are you serving?
- Is your life headed in the right direction?
- Is your business asking for transformative change?
The question isn’t whether this moment shows up: it’s what you do with it when it does.