Insights on Leadership - chatting to Mike Greeff
Category Property news
What are the challenges and stresses you face as a CEO?
I am learning all the time to deal with challenges and whatever stresses they bring. New challenges are always emerging and I deal with them as systematically as possible. I’ve learned to take breaks or mini-vacations, but I find I get bored after a few days and before I know it I’m jotting down ideas and itching to get back into the office.
What makes an ideal CEO?
An ideal CEO empowers the people with whom he works to be the best they can be, to live their lives to the full and to thrive. I use as a guide an incredible book called Everybody Matters: the extraordinary power of caring for your people like family by Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia. Highly recommended.
Is there any ideal preparation or learning a prospective or aspirant CEO should focus on?
The key is to focus on building strong and enduring relationships with your colleagues and the people in your market. A CEO must be a people person, and I am grateful that I learned early on the importance of building personal relationships.
What do you believe is the key to striking the right balance as a leader between being a visionary, an expert in your field, or an all-rounder?
The key is to find a balance between controlling the business and being flexible.
What insight can you share about the dynamics of an outsider to a company or an industry becoming CEO of an organisation?
Most issues faced by CEOs are common to most organisations. A new CEO must have the ability to work in a team, and focus on identifying challenges and accelerating the organisation’s ability to recognise and solve problems.
What advice do you have for young CEOs in terms of coping with the immense pressure and expectations that will be placed on them?
Always remember to have a war chest to enable the business to cope with downturns and bad business cycles. Never be without a war chest.
How important is on-the-ground experience and emotional intelligence?
Normally people become CEOs once they have a number of years of experience in business and in life. They should focus during their formative years on learning to build personal relationships and understanding as much about people as possible.
What gives you the greatest satisfaction as a CEO?
The ability to make a positive difference in the world by living by my core values: compassion, commitment, community involvement and leadership. I get great satisfaction from helping people, passing on knowledge, and giving the best service possible. It makes me very happy to see a healthy business running well.
Author: Martin Schneider
