Cox - The ceo in you

Cover

Title Page

The CEO in You

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Allan Cox

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Harrier Press

Chicago, IL

Copyright Information

The CEO in You, Copyright Allan Cox, 2007, 2015

All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without prior written permission of the publisher.
Requests for permission should be directed to
permissions@HarrierPress.net

Harrier Press
Chicago, IL 60611
www.harrierpress.com

First published under the title Your Inner CEO: Unleash the Executive Within
by Career Press, October 2007

Revised third edition published by Harrier Press, March 2015

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

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Cox, Allan.

The CEO in You / Allan Cox 1st ed

1. Business. 2. Executive Ability. 3. Leadership. 4. Management. 5. Organizational Change. 6. Self-Growth. I. Title

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Cover Design and Interior Book Design by Coreen Montagna

Praise for The CEO in You :

This is a life-changing bookone of those rare books that achieves far more than it promises. Allan Cox challenges us to understand the fundamental forces underlying our behavior. These are forces that lead to either success or failure. Since these forces are fundamental, they dont apply just to business, but to all relationships. The CEO in You isnt a book that you simply read, its one you live. Living it will not only maximize your potential for success, it will provide a better life for all those who surround you.

~Robert Genetski
Economist, Author,
Classical Economic Principles & The Wealth of Nations

***

Allan Cox digs deep. He challenges old assumptions and practices of doing business and comes up with a surprisingly simple solution: To be an effective CEO, just be the best person you can be. He uses a wealth of stories to illustrate this concept. He brings in examples, case studies, exercises and even poetry. Expounding on the theory of Viennese psychologist Alfred Adler, he makes a solid case that professional, personal and spiritual aspects of life cannot be separated.

~Victor Chan
Trustee and Founding Director
Dalai Lama Center
Vancouver, Canada
Co-Author with The Dali Lama, The Wisdom of Forgiveness

***

Allan Cox has thought long and well about corporate leadership and how our sense of self matters decisively. He is persuasive in his attention to the roots of our imagination and the lens through which we read reality. Readers will come to a new sense of freedom and a fresh discernment of self that generates credible leadership and authority.

~Walter Brueggemann, Th.D., Ph.D., Author,
Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks

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In our hyper-connected lives, the noise is deafening and the signals faint. Being crystal clear on ones purpose is now more important than ever to avoid the constant stream of distractions. I can see this book becoming the life companion of the leaders of the future who will use its practical frameworks, metaphors and examples to navigate information overload and stay focused on the real goals. Its worked for me and I have recommended it to everyone I mentor.

~Annalie Killian
Director of Innovation, Collaboration and Communication
AMP Financial Services
Sydney, Australia

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Allan Cox grounds his primer on leadership and performance in the revolutionary work of Alfred Adler. The CEO in You is a clear and pragmatic guide to finding ones individuality and courage as a leader.

~Raymond Crossman, Ph.D.,
President, Adler University,
Chicago, USA and Vancouver, Canada

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Cox leads the reader through a mature discussion that addresses such knotty topics as goals, changes, boundaries, visions and futures. In each chapter, Cox includes the requisite real-world examples and a good deal of guidance based on his considerable experience advising CEOs of major corporations and nonprofit organizations.

Also present for the busy CEO are end-of-chapter summaries and punch lists that exhort readers to take proactive steps.

Nicely packaged and well-wrought, with the potential to shake up many an executives conventional thinking.

~Kirkus Review

Dedication

For Cher.

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Is not every life a vocation? A way to be followed truthfully, come what may, and not only the special case of a poet or nun? Neither the maintenance of social order nor the natural claims of the family have ever seemed to me of the same order of value, or of reality as the souls pilgrimage, whether the pilgrim be poet or no.

~Kathleen Raine

Introduction

You cant build a reputation on what youre going to do. ~Henry Ford

E VERY T IME Y OU S TART A N EW J OB , you go back to square one. About twenty-five percent of people dont survive the first year, and of those who do, another twenty-five percent dont achieve their full potential. Those odds produce a lot of fear and anxiety, whether youre a rookie salesperson or a newly minted CEO.

However, there is a way to manage your career so that fear is removed, strengths are summoned, and achievement is ensured: grounding.

ground (n.) 1. Something that serves as a foundation or means of attachment for something else.
2. The foundation for an argument, a belief or an action.
(v.) 1. To provide a basis for action. 2. To build on fundamentals.

In The CEO in You , well use the concept of grounding to help you become more aware of your unique talent, to harness that talent to your unique Destiny, and to achieve extraordinary results. Some people strive to wield power, but thats the wrong course. Raw power does not guarantee extraordinary results. Those who rely on it not only fail, but also they create and suffer debilitating fear and anxiety. Successful CEOs, I have discovered, share power with others, strengthen everyone with whom they come in contact, and treat all stakeholders in their enterprise with kindness, generosity, and humility. They know that success stems not from their own efforts, but from a clear understanding of who they are and what Destiny they pursue.

Unfortunately, most executives and their organizations propel themselves toward the wrong goalsgoals inconsistent with their true talent or goals to which they pay lip service, but in which they dont actually believe. Think about it: If you and your company (even if its only a company of one) say one thing and do another (the rule rather than the exception), how can you possibly pursue your personal or organizational Destiny? You cant; and if you cant, you will never achieve either extraordinary results or peace of mind.

The solution to this common problem is to face your fears, summon your strengths, and get grounded. Of course, thats easier said than done. Where do you start? My extensive experience coaching leaders has convinced me that CEOs and their organizations obey a compel ling central goal of which they are unaware . Kept buried, such goals can either enhance or erode personal and organizational achievement. I didnt pull this idea out of thin air. I first heard it in graduate school when I took a course called Theories of Personality. It was a theory proposed by the brilliant psychiatrist Alfred Adler, who asserted that all people pursue hidden goals. Throughout the years, I have successfully applied his ideas to countless executives and organizations.