The Impact Multiplier CEO – Details, episodes & analysis

Do you need to have a super power to be an effective CEO? What happens if you don't? How can you build a pan-continental business with zero experience? And how can you empower your managers to lead effectively?

In this episode Richard speaks with Rebecca Harrison, who has spent the last decade building the African Management Institute (AMI), Africa’s leading provider of business and management learning, supporting 37,000 businesses in 39 African countries, impacting 1.5 million livelihoods and contributing more than $130M to the continent’s economies.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• What caused Rebecca to pursue a impact business in a sector and market she had almost no experience of, and what she had to learn the hard way.
• Why Rebecca doesn't think she has a particular super power - what she says is important instead -- and a helpful reframe of the topic by Richard
• Rebecca's three hard-won tips on building an effective middle management, even in a hierarchical culture sometimes where often the assumption is that "obedience" than "ownership" is required.

Resources/sources mentioned:

• African Management Institute - https://africanmanagers.com
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast (https://xquadrant.com/podcast/)
• Join Rivendell (https://xquadrant.com/rivendell/), our exponential programme for elite CEOs dedicated to transforming themselves, their businesses, and the world.
• Ready for a big leap forward in your own leadership? Elevate your leadership forever with Richard's book "Making time for Strategy: How to be less busy and more successful". Buy your book here: https://xquadrant.com/time/

For full show notes, head to https://xquadrant.com/rebecca-harrison

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:36 How to make an impact in Africa

13:05 Align business vision with impactful purpose

16:33 How to enjoy the entrepreneurial journey

18:13 Founder CEO: Care drives progress, not brilliance

26:40 Define management expectations for cultural clarity

34:44 Monthly cash flow and team meetings checklist

38:03 Facing fear, accepting leadership to innovate forward.

How can you build a business that is genuinely global on day one? How do you set up marketing, sales, delivery, recruitment and operations when your local market is not going to be your largest market, and where you want customers to come from anywhere?

Today Richard speaks with Fred Plais, co-founder and CEO of Platform.sh, a leading, VC funded Platform-as-a-service for building, running, scaling web applications.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

The critical early decisions that enabled the business to go global from day 1

Why Platform.sh limits employment to only 12 countries, despite being 100% remote

The process innovations that have allowed Platform.sh to successfully operate a remote-first culture

The big mistake Fred made when needing to accelerate profitability... and what happened

Resources/sources mentioned:

The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast(https://xquadrant.com/podcast/)

Platform.sh (https://platform.sh/)

Join Rivendell (https://xquadrant.com/rivendell/), our exponential programme for elite CEOs dedicated to transforming themselves, their businesses, and the world.

Ready for a big leap forward in your own leadership? Elevate your leadership forever with Richard's book "Making time for Strategy: How to be less busy and more successful". Buy your book here: https://xquadrant.com/time/

For full show notes, head to https://xquadrant.com/fred-plais

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

06:01 Building global businesses

10:14 Finding great talents outside major hubs

13:56 The new remote work paradigm

21:58 Distributed global teams ensure 24/7 customer support.

26:52 Ensuring cultural fit, clear goals, and remote work.

31:24 In-person meetings enhance problem-solving and collaboration.

36:09 Reducing cloud app carbon emissions, efficiently.

41:29 Focus on future strategy, not micromanage tasks.

• Silke's "Madonna moment" that led her to leave a corporate job she loved.
• The three biggest factors that helped Silke secure the CEO role.
• The biggest surprise about being CEO - and how that weighs on the leader.

• Jonckers website (www.jonckers.com)
• Who moved my cheese? book (https://www.amazon.fr/Who-Moved-Cheese-Spencer-Johnson/dp/0091816971)
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page (www.xquadrant.com/podcast)
• Remember to sign up for our free email series on the CEO Learning Curve, (www.xquadrant.com/go/curve)

• The mistake most leaders make in creating a gap between vision and execution
• How to distinguish temptation from opportunity
• How Evan deploys KPIs to give everyone real clarity about how they can most contribute to the corporate mission
• The 'dark side' of Evan's high energy and passion - and how he's learned to deal with that

• evan@recruiter.com
• Evan Sohn's LinkedIn
• Book - Extreme ownership
• Book - The Lighthouse Effect (Steven Pemberton)
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page
• Remember to download your copy ofThe CXO's Checklist for Challenging Times! 

• Why being a "non-traditional CFO" landed him the CEO role (and how you can apply the same mindset)
• The difficult decision Thomas had to make immediately as CEO - and why it was so important
• What Thomas did that ended up "unlocking the talent" within the business
• How to avoid the rigours of business from weighing down too heavily on you

• Pond5 website
• Slack app
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page
• Remember to sign up for our free email series on the CEO Learning Curve

• The learnings as John moved from large corporates (HP, Cisco) to running a 300-person business.
• The rule of thumb that has helped John prioritise his time between different stakeholder groups.
• The one thing John overlooked in the first few months as CEO.
• How to build the employer value proposition in a market where talent is much sought-after.

• Adarma Security website (adarma.com)
• Extreme Ownership (book) (https://www.amazon.fr/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-Seals/dp/1250067057)
• The Age of Competitive Advantage (book) (https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Competitive-Advantage-Rules-Digital/dp/052557560X)
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page (www.xquadrant.com/podcast)
• Remember to sign up for our free email series on the CEO Learning Curve, (www.xquadrant.com/go/curve)

• The importance of 'mental rhythm' - and extracting yourself from most of the demands on your time.
• How to set up clear boundaries to manage personal energy despite complex business demands.
• The guiding thought that governed Gurjodhpal as he recruited his new executive team. 

• Tide Website
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page
• Remember to sign up for our free email series on the CEO Learning Curve

• The 2 major areas every CEO needs to focus on, and the balance to put on each.
• How a sabbatical to Bali set Miguel on fire with a purpose that the business is now delivering on.
• The differences between the online and offline worlds of retail - and the learning curve that represented.
• How the CEO role needs to change to triple gross margin in 5 years.

• Miguel Giribet Giral's LinkedIn 
•   The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page
• Remember to sign up for our free email series on the CEO Learning Curve 

• What Christopher did when he arrived as CEO, to find the sale of the business had fallen through due to serious fraud
• How this event led to real clarity for the business, and the "building a story" exercise that every CEO should go through
• The communication challenges Christopher experienced, and the advice he gives new CEOs, especially around the "magic 80" of second-level reports.
• How he, as CEO, spends every single Wednesday, and how it created unbelievable insight into the market and into internal operations

• Voo website
• The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast home page
• Remember to sign up for our free email series on the CEO Learning Curve