Why CEOs Must Care About the Heart in Leadership
Logic, analytics, and level-headedness all have an important place in leadership; however, a leader who operates entirely from the head will ultimately limit the growth of her organization. This is because culture is the accelerant for growth and key to financial performance.
In a 2021 study done by Heidrick & Struggles, a group of culture-focused CEOs outperformed their peers by generating more than double the three-year compound annual growth rate in revenue, 9.1 percent compared with 4.4 percent.
The kind of leadership that transforms a culture and achieves exponential growth is all about connections. And meaningful connection is a matter of the heart. Thus, the impact of the heart on a company cannot be overlooked—hearts are inherent contributors to a company’s culture. Leadership may often be derived from the head, but strong leadership flows through the heart before being expressed.
It starts at the top
If the CEO isn’t giving their whole heart, how can they expect their employees to do the same?
If you believe that people are the engine that make your organization go, then the way to create connection with them is through your heart as the CEO. Now, you may not use that language or broach that subject with them directly, but if you’ve chosen to make people your priority, having an awareness of your heart, and theirs, must be at the center of everything you do.
The truth is, you cannot expect people to give their whole hearts if you don’t give yours.
Strong, heart-led culture is also needed to eliminate barriers on financial performance.
In the absence of humanity, a company becomes stagnant. Although head-based leadership can aid growth, financial achievements are ultimately limited beyond a certain point because the main driving force in leadership is absent.
Every CEO has a unique value system
Values and the heart live at intersection with each other.
Sometimes we operate on a set of values that we think are our own, but what we inevitably realize is that our hearts, and the heart of the organization is the place where the values need to come from. Friends, society, misinformation on social media.
Your company culture reflects the values of all those within it, but the one whose beliefs are most closely mirrored is the CEO.
Do your values match your heart? What are your most deeply held beliefs about what’s true and what’s important? The place where these reside is the heart?
The CEO’s values don’t have to exactly match those of the company, but they do have to align. If they don’t align, the leader has to pretend but that will only last for a time. Eventually her or his true values will show up in tough moments/decisions. Then you have the issue that I heard Dr. Francois Nader say once before – lose trust, lose smart/valuable people.
Many companies may share core values and beliefs, and as a result their culture may look much the same from the outside. But to those within the organization, the CEO’s unique value system can be felt – for better or worse. This can directly affect company performance, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Leadership has to flow from one’s heart
As a CEO, it’s necessary to consider one’s motivations for leadership decisions.
If we operate from the premise that the culture is set from the CEO, and even if the values are a different set of words between the company and the person, there is going to be a disconnect. If that CEO is not honest and authentic about what their values are, what they say their values are, what the organization’s values are, there will be a lack of connection between people and leadership.
There’ll be communication breakdowns, disengaged employees, and a general sense of disconnection throughout the organization. This will result in low productivity, under-functioning operations skepticism.
Getting into a CEO’s heart
Getting into a CEO’s heart requires turning them upside down and shaking them out – getting right down into their most internal beliefs and learning what makes them tick.
But first, they have to believe it’s valuable to do so.
As a CEO, you have to believe that it matters, that it’s worth it to do this work, and that there is something there in your chest other than four chambers, valves, and blood. Then, get honest. Ask yourself, what’s really going on in your heart? It’s no doubt been wounded over your lifetime. Why are you the way you are? Why are you motivated in the way that you are? Start to simply ask yourself the question: what’s going on inside my heart?
Only when these depths have been explored can you truly understand yourself, offer your heart, and believe in a company’s value system.
The heart of the CEO is what ultimately drives the whole organization.
You have to be present to your own heart, and to the hearts of other people, before you can begin to enhance a culture that is very mechanical, process oriented, and regimented, one where people are not yet the highest part of your value structure.
If you’re interested in diving into the heart with me, check out my Executive Leadership and Coaching work here: https://brilliancewithincoaching.com/