“…Do you know what leadership means?

It means the person in charge get second-

guessed by every clever little twat with a mouth.

But, when he starts second-guessing himself,

that’s the end for him. For the clever little twats.

For everyone…”

- SER ALLISER THORNEGame of Thrones

WWCDWhat Would A CEO Do?Heather RussellCEO, Rinkya.com@HeatherARussell

#1. People vs Biz• 60 days of runway, your

largest customer is going to drop you.

• To convince them not to, you acquire their favorite product company.

• You have to let the new CEO go, but he tells you that he was just diagnosed with brain cancer.

What do you do?A) Get rid of him (with advice from lawyers). Emotion doesn’t make you money.

B) Keep him at a cost of $200K that you can’t really afford.

What do you do?What Happened Next?

• This CEO decided to pay for the health costs and find the money ($200K) in their budget.

• 15 months later he dies

• the wife wrote thanking him and to say that her and the family were saved from total despair.

A) Get rid of him (with advice from lawyers). Emotion doesn’t make you money.

B) Keep him at a cost of $200K that you can’t really afford.

B) Keep him at a cost of $200K that you can’t really afford.

Who was it? • Ben Horowitz

Co-founder, Andreessen Horowitz.

• Sold his company (OpsWare) for $1.6bn

“I did it, because I knew what desperation was like…”

.@heatherarussell As a CEO, you will truly understand the meaning of desperation. cc @bhorowitz #sparkme #whatwouldaCEOdo

#2. Original vs. Copy Cat• You start your company in the height of the dot.com boom.

• Google is handing out free lunches, Apple is giving people iPhones.

• You are struggling in the valley, but need to be noticed

What do you do?A) Copy what is proven to be a successful company culture

B) Look at your budget and find a happy medium between what they are doing and what you can afford

C) Do what you want, ignore the other guys

What do you do?

What Happened Next?• This CEO decided to ignore what everyone else was doing

• Instead, made a statement by taking doors from a home improvement store, screwing on wooden legs and making them desks. He still does this.

A) Copy what is proven to be a successful company culture

B) Look at your budget and find a happy medium between what they are doing and what you can afford

C) Do what you want, ignore the other guysC) Do what you want, ignore the other guys

Who was it?

• Jeff Bezos of Amazon

“It's very important at Amazon.com to make sure that we're spending money on things that matter to customers,”

.@heatherarussell Keeping it real, using drones to tell your story. @amazon #JeffBezos #sparkme@whatwouldaCEOdo

#3. Customers

• You have an eCommerce company

• You using 3rd party

logistics & vendors to fulfill and deliver orders

• They keep screwing up, mixing up orders, being late, damaging deliveries

A) Find another 3rd party company

What do you do?

C) Go to the warehouse everyday and manage them yourself until they get it right

B) Do your own logistics

What Happened Next?

• This CEO decided to build warehouses and do their own logistics

What do you do?

A) Find another 3rd party company

C) Go to the warehouse everyday and manage them

B) Do your own logisticsB) Do your own logistics

Who was it? • Tony Hsieh

Founder of Zappos

• Sold his company to Amazon for $1.2bn

“Trusting that a third party would care about our customers as much as we did was one of our biggest mistakes”

.@heatherarussell If your customers aren’t your #1 priority, pack it up and go home @tonyhsieh #sparkme#whatwouldaCEOdo

#4. Ownership• A few of your employees

upload a YouTube video doing some disgusting acts to the products your company sells.

• It goes viral

A) Be honest and apologize

What do you do?

B) Hire a PR team to do damage control

C) You are a huge corporation, just ignore, your product is popular and people will forget

What Happened Next?

• Uploaded his own YouTube video apology explaining that the employees would also be arrested. Got over 2 million views.

What do you do?

A) Be honest and apologize

B) Hire a PR team to do damage control

C) You are a huge corporation, just ignore, your product is popular and people will forget

A) Be honest and apologize

Who was it? • Patrick Doyle

CEO of Domino’s Pizza

“All of these things are about showing (customers) that we’re truly listening, taking feedback and making changes”

.@heatherarussell If you screw up, admit it, get on your knees & say sorry. We’ve all been there #jpn <3 @dominos #sparkme#whatwouldaCEOdo

• You’re bootstrapping. Just started

• Staff is working hard. Got some new contracts that are coming into the office.

• The office looks like crap. But no money to redecorate.

#5. Hands-on

A) Tell your overworked staff they have to help clean

What do you do?

B) Take care of it yourself

C) Do nothing, you are a start-up, everyone will understand

What Happened Next?

• Worked till 5am before the staff came in, painted the entire office so they could feel comfortable and proud about their working environment when they came in and when anyone came to visit.

What do you do?

A) Tell your overworked staff they have to help clean

B) Take care of it yourself

C) Do nothing, you are a start-up, everyone will understand

B) Take care of it yourself

Who was it? • Heather Russell

CEO of Rinkya

“You should be prepared to clean toilets as a CEO. Whatever it takes to get to the next level & make your employees feel like you’re in the trenches with them.”

.@heatherarussell Prepare to clean toilets as a CEO. Make your employees feel like you’re in the trenches w/ them @rinkya #sparkme

#6. Know your Customers• You are a start-up with a

new product just launched.

• You need users.

• You need to understand what people like/don’t like about your product

A) Hire a PR firm

What do you do?

B) Post in a forum you are a member of to get people’s reactions

C) Buy Google Ads

D) Stand out on the street and get people to look at your app.

What Happened Next?

• This CEO was a member of a popular travel forum where he knew the members well and was in the community. He posted asking what people thought about his app and how he could improve it.

What do you do?

A) Hire a PR firm

B) Post in a forum you are a member of to get people’s reactions

C) Buy Google Ads

D) Stand out on the street and get people to look at your app.

B) Post in a forum you are a member of to get people’s reactions

Who was it?

• Jan KoumCo-Founder of WhatsApp

"Focus on simplicity, listen to your customers and iterate if you fail."

.@heatherarussell Seed users by being one of them. Start with a community you’re a part of & know. @jankoum #sparkme#whatwouldaCEOdo

#7. Know your Limitations• You are 20 years old and have a hot new start-up that’s

growing.

• You have no experience managing a big company.

What do you do?A) Hire a CEO

B) Learn while you go along. That’s how CEOs get made

C) Make someone internal the CEO

What Happened Next?

• These two very famous co-founders hired a technology veteran to run the company and give them “Parental supervision”.

What do you do?

A) Hire a CEO

B) Learn while you go along. That’s how CEOs get made

C) Make someone internal the CEO

A) Hire a CEO

Who was it?

• Larry Page and Sergey Brin hired Eric Schmidtto be CEO of Google

”Always hire smarter people."

.@heatherarussell The CEO doesn’t have to be the smartest, just the one who finds the smart people. @ericschmidt #sparkme#whatwouldaCEOdo

What Happens

When Your

Decision is Wrong?

• Everyone makes bad decisions

• The only way to get good at it is to make them a lot

• Be decisive

• Explain and prepare

• As the CEO, ALWAYS take responsibility immediately

Follow me @HeatherARussell

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