I was in a coaching conversation with a CEO client this week when I blurted out the phrase ‘Rip off the cap!’, referring to the limiting story the particular CEO had been telling himself for the past two decades.
I meant it in an excoriating way: encouraging, insistent and excited all in the same breath. I really wanted something better and more rewarding for him than what he’s settled for.
Every CEO has a ‘story’: a narrative of what’s possible and of what’s not possible.
This story is formed early and it plays out over the course of your career, for the better or the worse.
For many CEOs, their story is ‘capped’: small thoughts; limiting beliefs; a lack of soul; scared thinking; reluctant to dream; trapped in a career or a business that keeps them small.
Rip off the cap! Its usefulness expired a long time ago and you are due a rebirth.
The brave CEOs amongst you recognise the need to reimagine themselves and take it on with intent. Not because they are failing, but because they are less than they ought to be.
We all tend toward our fullest potential – that is a rule of nature. Only we stand in our own way and it’s our story that is the blocker.
A story change can be made in an instant:
- To believe that work can be joyful
- To believe that a business can be beautiful
- To believe that business performance is a compelling riddle to solve
- To believe that the global business collective can change society for the better
- To believe that you can be magnificent in your CEOship
- To believe that one day you can look back over your body of work with pride
No more dullness. No more toil. No more hanging on. No more feeling beaten down.
A new story, a new dawn.
It’s that simple.