The Average CEO Spends 72% of Her Time in Meetings — Here’s How to Maximize the 28%
Welcome to Spencer Trask Perspectives, a monthly interview series with our CEO Bill Clifford and writer John Essick. Mr. Clifford has generously agreed to share his unique insights and expert opinions on topics such as business development, deal flow, C-suite management, startup culture, entrepreneurialism, and more. We welcome your feedback, and encourage you to submit questions to askST@spencertraskco.com for Mr. Clifford to potentially answer in future articles.
According to business mogul, Warren Buffet, time is the most precious commodity a CEO has. In a 2006 study, Harvard professors Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria found that the average CEO spends an astounding 72% of his or her time in meetings. Today’s conversation with Bill Clifford addresses how both seasoned and first-time CEOs can stay focused on the big picture and better utilize resources, while navigating the demands that the role requires.
John Essick: How can a CEO set the tone every workday before he or she (and the management team) gets swept up in a day full of meetings?
Bill Clifford: Across all industries and in companies of every size, a CEO can start every day by sharing with the senior management team some news or event that directly affects the company or its products. Communicating with personnel first thing in the morning can be a very simple but effective way to start off the day with an efficient tone. It’s not necessary that the CEO asks a big strategic question, but instead uses the occasion as a way to let everyone know that the boss is focused on the big picture and expects everyone else to be focused on it as well.
It can be something as simple as putting a message in everyone’s email inbox (I actually prefer a personal voice message) that says something like, “Good morning team. We just learned that Competitor X is planning to open a branch office in Phoenix. Are we prepared for that scenario?” For companies where the CEO shares offices with the senior management team, something as simple as making time each morning for a walk-around with the first cup of coffee helps to align the team early in the day.
JE: Most CEOs, especially early on in their tenure, have a habit of trying to do everything themselves, which obviously drains their time. They may feel that their oversight is needed to keep the company running efficiently. What is a good balance for delegation versus where a CEO’s time is actually required?
BC: The question of strength versus delegation often comes down to the size of the company and the depth of the resources available to the CEO. In smaller organizations, the CEO often does not have the luxury of delegating the complex financial presentation or building the fancy slide presentation for the BOD (Board of Directors) meeting. In those cases, it’s helpful for the CEO to have a broad skillset in multiple areas. Fortunately, learning as you go has never been easier, with the advent of webinars, tutorial videos, online classes, and other resources.
In larger organizations, it is often advisable for the CEO to delegate certain topical tasks, such as those related to the sensitive regulatory and legal issues surrounding Human Resources, and certain Financial and Regulatory Reporting issues. Be sure to make use of your specialized teams, as they have the knowledge and skillsets to handle those subject areas.
JE: A CEO is more than likely to encounter failure at some point, throwing a wrench into the normal workday. CEOs running a startup company, for instance, may find themselves spending too much time fighting fires. How can a CEO develop the ability to focus on the future and not dwell on failures?
BC: Any initiatives you pursue should be taken in measured steps, taking into consideration the expectations of your investors and the resources at your disposal. You will always walk this tightrope between investor expectation and resource allocation, and this skill is a CEO’s number one survival instinct. That said, not every initiative will succeed at the level that you expect or promise. Successful CEOs will have anticipated these occurrences and planned accordingly. They would have run pilot projects of their initiatives in a controlled environment so that each component of the project could be closely studied, ensuring that any flaws in the underlying assumptions could be caught and remedied before the initiative was rolled out on a wider scale and costlier basis. The objective is to minimize the impact of the ‘failures’ and use them as learning experiences so that you can focus on future initiatives, with these learning experiences having served as teaching lessons for the future.
JE: Are there three or four questions CEOs should ask themselves daily to keep focused on key issues?
BC: When a CEO is hired, there are obviously a few very critical reasons for that hiring to have taken place. For example, a strategic shift was required, a reinvigorated sales focus was needed, or better expense management was required. Those three or four critical issues that brought about the hiring of the CEO should remain clearly in focus every day, despite all of the other daily pressures and brushfires that will contend for the time and attention of the CEO.
Some leaders I’ve known use very simple techniques that help them keep their focus on these critical success factors. One CEO printed key matters out on a 3x5 index card and stuck them on his mirror so that each morning as he shaved they were there staring back at him. Another had the screen saver on her work computer set so that each time her PC screen cleared, the four most important issues to be addressed were presented in clear, bold type on the screen.
JE: When a CEO is short on time, often the first activity nixed from his or her calendar is free time for thought or reflection. Do you feel scheduling down time should be a priority?
BC: Just because a CEO has reached the “pinnacle of success” within a given corporation, that doesn’t mean that he or she should stop seeking opportunities for education and contemplation. I would encourage every CEO to view and listen to any and all TED talks that seem to be relevant to the challenges that they face or pertinent to their industry.
I would also urge them to seek out any podcasts, webcasts, online seminars, lectures, and any other media available that can broaden their views or even challenge long standing views on management practices or strategic principles. In fact, I would encourage new CEOs not to restrict this list of resources to business leaders only, but to expand the list to other great thinkers and problem solvers who may provoke in the CEO a new thought process or a novel, non-traditional way to attack a problem facing their business.
I would also expect the CEO to encourage the senior management team to do exactly the same thing. While it is tempting for a CEO to cut these more introspective activities first, I cannot stress enough the importance of periods of free, associative thinking. Often, this time alone spawns the inspiration for the CEO’s next great idea.
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About Bill Clifford
Bill Clifford is Chief Executive Officer of Spencer Trask & Co., a privately owned advanced technology incubation firm. Prior to joining Spencer Trask & Co., Mr. Clifford served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Aperture Technologies Inc., General Partner of The Fields Group, and General Partner of New Vista Capital. He is also the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Gartner Group, the world’s leading authority on the information technology industry, user and vendor technology strategies and market research. During his tenure at Gartner, annual revenues increased from $175 million in fiscal 1993 to $780 million in fiscal 1999.
Mr. Clifford currently serves on the board of directors of Cybersettle Inc. and SWK Holdings (SWKH.OB). He has been featured in CEO Magazine, Leaders Magazine and Forbes, and is a keynote speaker and panelist at numerous Technology Industry conferences.
