Jim Wetekamp Of Riskonnect: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO

Good messaging is consistent messaging.

As a part of our series called ‘Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO’ we had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Wetekamp.

Jim Wetekamp is the CEO of Riskonnect, the leading provider of integrated risk management software. Jim is a recognized expert on enterprise risk, supply chain, and procurement. He has more than 20 years of product and leadership experience, most recently serving as CEO of BravoSolution, a Chicago-based cloud procurement solutions company.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I started my professional career at IBM in the accounting function. It was a great entry point to build a career in technology. I was introduced to digital transformation and the ins and outs of working with a business that spanned computer hardware, software, cloud enablement technologies, and more. After coming to understand how businesses in the software space operate, I had the opportunity to join a small startup that sat at the intersection of cloud-based software and the supply chain. Over the next decade, I gained experience working in roles across finance, technology, product management, sales, and marketing, and also worked on several business acquisitions, both as a seller and a buyer. This path eventually led me to Riskonnect.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Everyone knows the world isn’t the same as it was a week ago, never mind years ago. The market has vastly changed over the past four years. When we used to talk about integrated risk management, it was 90% evangelism and only 10% action. Today, integrated risk management is the starting point of conversations. The companies we talk with want to know what they need to do to get toward their end goals. Rather than simply talking about the risks the organization faces overall, we discuss root-causes, outside factors, and realistic goals to form a comprehensive action plan. I’ve found that by working in increments towards the long-term goals we’ve set, we actually get more done than just jumping to achieve short-term gains that end up costing more in the long run.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Why limit this answer to when you’re starting? Even tenured professionals make mistakes every day — I’m sure there are plenty more funny mistakes to be made in my future. However, there is one specific mistake that comes to mind. Relatively early in my career, I was demonstrating a new product to a prospect. During the presentation the application I was using stopped working correctly — in fact, the whole screen shut down. But because I had been so diligent in my preparation for the meeting, I wasn’t willing to admit the software bug was putting a wrench in my presentation. I continued to try to demo the product three more times, convinced that the software issue would fix itself — long story short, it didn’t. Though it was only a small error, it showed me how important it is to move on if something isn’t perfect, instead of trying the same thing again and expecting a different result.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Several people come to mind. First, one of my mentors, Carl Scott, who hired me at IBM, showed me how powerful being your authentic self in the workplace can be. Remaining authentic and transparent with my team has helped me get where I am today. While I was at VerticalNet, CEO Nate Lentz was willing to ‘throw employees into the deep end’ which showed the team that he trusted their capability as they learned and grew. This showed me that micromanaging employees is rarely a good course of action. When I was at BravoSolution, I learned the importance of company culture. The CEO, Nader Sabbaghian, demonstrated this in how he led the team and conducted business, and I’ve yet to encounter someone better at building a culture. Finally, Hudson Smith hired me at Riskonnect and was willing to take a gamble on me as I entered a completely new space. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.

As you know, the United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

One of Riskonnect’s core values is that of community. We define community as enabling an environment of mutual respect, fearless communication, and accelerated collaboration to best harness the diverse talent around us. At its root, diversity and inclusion is the foundation of an effective community and our belief in equality for all demonstrates how proud we are of our diverse workforce. Simply put, we want to ensure our employee base reflects the diverse communities we live in and that all Riskonnect employees feel represented, valued, and empowered. Corporations have a role to play in balancing inequality and creating a representative workforce that strengthens the overall business.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

As a business leader, I strive to do everything with purpose. Whether it’s responding to an email or hiring a new employee, making purposeful decisions impacts the whole organization. When it comes to hiring, we make sure to thoroughly research the places that are best to recruit from, which has opened us up to new areas and more importantly, new talent. Once you start hiring employees from different locations, cultures, or communities, the next step is to design a platform for cultural influence. Whether you’re at a professional development event or a team outing, culture should be celebrated within the workplace.

Most importantly, there is always more room to learn. When creating opportunities for diversity, there needs to be a system in place to track, measure, and evaluate progress. Incorporating these metrics shows employees that the company is not only engaging with its workforce, but that it truly cares about the employee experience and is doing what it can to improve in the future.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

Leadership is leadership whether you’re an intern or a CEO. As an executive, the three words that define leadership to me are engage, align, and enable. Engaging with your employees helps build the ‘why.’ This phase helps your employees understand their specific purpose within the organization. Next, alignment is crucial so that everyone is aware of how their role impacts the overall organization so that the collective can work towards company goals with purpose. Lastly, leaders must enable employees by providing them with the necessary means to achieve goals.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?

Many people believe that being a CEO is the loneliest job, but I would disagree. In this role I’ve learned to stop viewing my community as my four office walls. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, CEOs included. You don’t magically become an expert in everything the day you accept your new leadership position. As a CEO, I’ve experienced true collaboration in a way I did not understand before finding myself in the C-suite. I’ve learned how to balance team strengths and weaknesses to help drive powerful impact.

Over the years I’ve also witnessed how important transparency can be in building relationships. Ultimately, including your employees in important conversations makes them feel trusted and when employees feel trusted, they’re more likely to stay with the organization.

I’ve learned many lessons since joining the C-Suite. You don’t stop learning when you reach the top, you just start learning differently. Most importantly, finding resources that encourage understanding and empathy are key to both personal and professional growth.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

There’s a lot more talking than I thought there would be. To do the job well, you need to invest in communication in a fundamentally different way than you’ve ever thought of before. Talking and communicating are two different ball-games — sometimes this isn’t an easy lesson to learn. The importance of listening, and truly hearing what someone is saying, is one of the most important parts of effective communication, and that doesn’t always come easily.

Do you think everyone is cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

I think everyone leads in a way. Though not everyone finds themselves in the C-suite, leadership can still be accomplished. Whether you’re training a new hire, covering a project for a coworker who is out sick, or taking on a management role, leadership can take many forms. However, in my personal experience, the most successful leaders are smart, have a strong work ethic, and strive to constantly learn.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help create a fantastic work culture? Can you share a story or an example?

I believe the best way to drive a consistent culture is by using inconsistent methods. We don’t all learn and understand messages the same way. Some employees may find a newsletter engaging, while others want to watch a short video. To get a point across you need to tell it in a way that targets different communication styles — and the best way to ensure this is by testing several methods. Each time the message is sent out, more employees engage and move forward with the news in a manner they are comfortable with. Good messaging is consistent messaging.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

We’ve really made it a focus at Riskonnect’s to promote positive initiatives in the communities of our offices, our employees, and our customers. We’re proud to have seen our giving increase annually. This was a direct result of the incredible giving of our employee base. We recently sponsored a 5K run in Atlanta that raised funds for the Emory ALS center in its fight against ALS. Charity is common at Riskonnect, and I can’t see that ever changing.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Change, when done right, takes time. Change takes action, and action needs to be based on a plan. Starting with an agenda and timeline is key to planning the best course of action. Unrealistic expectations of what the end result should look like is a common trap that causes frustration. The team will often fixate on how something will happen, rather than focusing on why the change matters and what is going to get the organization from point A to point B.
2. Progress is almost as important as success. Many organizations get tied up in the “it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish” mentality because we are all too metric-driven. Obviously, success is important, but an overemphasis on success at any cost will lead to negative outcomes. Occasionally you need to pull out all the stops to accomplish a goal, but in general, progress matters just as much as what the organization is striving to get to, even if you don’t quite make it to your planned destination.
3. Optimism is a muscle that can be developed. Look at big goals as the ‘truths’ of what you will accomplish. Instead of saying ‘we may’ or ‘we could’ do something, make a conscious effort to think optimistically by stating ‘we will,’ or ‘I am.’ In a lot of cases, we will fall short. Statements about actions that have not yet been taken may be seen as an exaggeration, but it creates an unrelenting drive to move the reality of our world towards our goal.
4. Embrace the differences. We talk a lot these days about diversity and inclusion, which is critical as there are inequities that take a focused effort to resolve. However, we can dive deeper into this topic by looking beyond race, gender identification, and other attributes that make us individuals. An individual’s work ethic falls into this category. You have people that sweat the details, and others that love blue sky thinking, those that hate group thinking, and those that love a good process. Your colleagues won’t all think like you — and that is terrific. Embrace the angled edges to find joy in the puzzle that is piecing teams together in a way that eliminates friction and moves all to a common goal.
5. Your job is not your identity. You are a human being first and foremost who has likes, dislikes, skills, and passions. As a CEO it’s easy to begin viewing yourself as your title. You might be a hardworking consultant, a strategic developer, and a passionate CEO, but switch the mentality. Go from, ‘I am a hard-working consultant, a strategic developer, and a passionate CEO,’ to ‘I am hard-working, strategic, and passionate.’ The difference can help you maintain a balance to avoid the traps of workaholism, exhaustion, or the fallacy of pride.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I truly believe that all of us should find a way to positively contribute to remediate and repair the damage we are inflicting on our environment. With new SEC climate disclosure restrictions on the horizon, major corporations are scrambling to plan. Riskonnect works with companies to help combat sustainability risks and knowing that’s part of my job is fulfilling.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Life is a long lesson in humility.” To me, this James M. Barrie quote says that surprise and disappointment can only come when you think you have everything figured out. I’ve come to learn that by choosing this mentality we, as humans, have an easier time moving on after a major surprise or disappointment, rather than focusing on the past. Like I said earlier, we all make mistakes everyday — I think that over time we get better at moving on from the mistakes we’ve made on our path to growth.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

My career in one way or another has intersected now and again with Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow — although we have never met. I’ve always been impressed with the way that Bill has developed his companies, his teams and his community.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.