A CEO gets 20 uninterrupted minutes in an entire workday to think long-term and strategize.

I was working with a CEO recently who runs a business with over 300 employees. Sharp mind, solid instincts, deeply committed. He told me, “PK, I don’t have time to think anymore.”

We decided to track his workdays. All scheduled reviews, the unscheduled ones, interruptions, every “quick call,” every “just one thing” that landed on his desk.

He came back stunned. In a 12-hour workday, he had found 20 minutes on an average where no one needed him. 20 minutes to think about strategy, culture, and the future of a business doing 100+ crores in revenue.

The problem was that his entire business had been built to depend on him for many things. Decisions, approvals, crises, solutioning – all found their route through to one person. Numerous small interruptions quietly steal the time, efforts and focus from the work that actually compounds – the thinking that moves a company from where it is to where it could be.

This is where many CEOs stay stuck. They find things keep coming back to them. They find themselves dragged into things. They find it difficult to let things go, and become  a bottleneck in the process to grow.

For many, it’s an unconscious process. A blind spot.

Your business never outgrows your priorities and attention span, so fixing the 20-minute problem is critical – everything else that’s desirable follows!

Sometimes all it takes is another pair of eyes that helps you see clearer, see what your calendar has been hiding from you.

CEOs deserve a Coach.

About the Author:

PK Narayanan is a CEO Coach based in Bengaluru, supporting CEOs, Founders and Business Owners Scale-up their Leadership Impact.

#ceo #scaleup #business #leadership #leadershipimpact #leadershippresencecoach

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