CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra

BATB score: 10/10 👑

written by senior partners at Mckinsey (so you know it’s expensive in-depth research)

Best as: a conclusive playbook on what makes a great CEO, inclusive of techniques on how to onboard oneself, manage board members, motivate the team, run a business, retired yourself, and keep sane as CEO 🥹

Best for: if you are in close proximity to a CEO, reporting into a CEO, working closely with a CEO, and/or scouting to climb the damn corporate ladder for that CEO role, this book is LEGIT it 💯

BATB lingering thought: wow.. being a good CEO is tough, being a great CEO is suicidal; ou… I don’t know whether I want it anymore.. Satya Nadella made $80M USD and Sundar Pichai made $226M USD compensation last year oh my my 🫠

Best to: read it once now, you’ll more empathy for your CEO; read it once again when you are CEO, you’ll then suffer a bit less in the role

Best quotes: “Your playing small does not serve the world.”

“Being terrified but going ahead and doing what needs to be done - that’s courage. The one who feels no fear is a fool, and the one who lets fear rule him is a coward.”

“Teamwork makes the dream work, but vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.”

“Any coach who needs to replace all the players isn’t as good a coach as they think they are.”

“The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.”

“When you go to war, lose all your soldiers but win the battle, and you come back home the only survivor - that is winning. But when you go to war, and you win the battle, and all the soldiers come back home - that is victory.”

“A large chair does not make a king.”