"The buck stops here." Sign on President Harry S. Truman's desk
I am the CEO of a small (but growing) regional company called Empower Meal Prep.
We started from just an idea and now we have 13 people that work for us. We have hundreds of customers and gross revenues are averaging around $30,000 per month.
I say those things to lay down some context for the premise of this post today and to provide some context. All of this will lead to, what I believe is, a powerful message.
I have an important position in my company. It's the most important one because, when all is said and done, the buck stops here.
I am the one that takes responsible for all the moving pieces... and there are a lot them.
I accept this mantle of leadership. I accept the responsibility. I take pride in this unique opportunity.
None of this means it's easy.
Being the CEO means that I have take responsibility for many things that I don't have a hand it. I can't make all the meals. I can't do all the delivies. I can't take all the orders. I can't collect all the money. I can't handle all the payroll, marketing, insurance, websites....
I can't do it all myself so there are things that others do but I have to take responsibility and THAT can often be a challenge.
Last week we had some challenges. One of the challenges was that we had a sick dog that had to take priority over EVERYTHING else. There were hours on end, on multiple days, where I could do nothing for the business.
The wheels of our company couldn't just grid to a halt because I was out of pocket.
I put trust in others for take responsibility for doing whatever their job was and is.
There were times I had to trust that my leadership and training would empower our vendors and staff to do what needed to be done to make sure our company ran to our high standards.
Being a leader, whether defined or not, requires a unique to every situation level of hard work, trust, integrity and discipline.
Probably the most challenging aspect, for me at least, is learning to be the one the take responsibility for all the moving parts.... good and bad.
As I said before, I accept this mantle of leadership.
The lesson here is a simple one. It doesn't matter if you are running a multi million dollar company, an office, or a family. It doesn't matter how big or small your leadership rolls are.
The only thing that really matters is that you take personal responsibility.
That's what I do with my company and my wife does the same thing. Perhaps that's why we continue to grow at an exponential rate....
I'm pretty sure it is.