How to Become a CEO

How to Become an Executive or a CEO: What It Really Takes

Holy cow. Holy cow. We’re at 400. We’re going to talk about how to become an executive or a CEO. Stay with us. Welcome everybody. Jason hopes you’re doing well. This is going to be like a three minute podcast. He just wants to do a little shout out for all of you who would, if you were in a meeting with him in a training and he asked you “Do you want to be a general superintendent or a project executive or an executive on the leadership team or the COO or the CEO of a company?” If you would raise your hand, he’s got some quick advice.

He’s covered some of these topics in the past. We can expand them in the future if you want to, but here are some things that you have to start doing because Jason cares about your career and he just wants to love you and support you. He just wants you to know that this is what it takes.

You Have to Start Remembering People’s Names

First of all, you have to start remembering people’s names. That’s self-explanatory. Jason knows what you’re thinking. You’re not good at it. God didn’t gift you with that. It’s not easy. Don’t care. You want to be a CEO or an executive. Let’s just say, if Jason says CEO, he means executive level leadership or an executive. You have to remember people’s names.

Second thing, you have to target reading a book a week. This is books like The One Thing or Focal Point or How to Win Friends and Influence People or The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham. You have to start educating your mind and getting really sharp. Next one. Follow the steps to personal mastery. You can use Jason’s little system, his Four Bullets, or you can use something like what Brendan Burchard provides on his High Performance Habits book and podcasts and his events.

Jason’s is you have to have the clarity of where you want your life to go, a rich and a growth mindset, and you can look those graphics up, those books, Mindset by Carol Dweck or The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Then you have to have a killer personal organization system that allows you to conquer everything you should be doing, and a morning routine.

The reason he told you that is because your morning routine every day will focus you on being grateful for what you have and giving. You will never be a good CEO or executive and probably won’t even become a CEO or an executive if you don’t give first to the people around you.

Stop Doing the Doing and Start Doing the Leading

You need to start spending most of your time with people. You need to stop doing the doing and do as little of the doing as you possibly can and start doing the leading, the mentoring, the coaching, the guiding, the supporting, the loving. Start spending most of your time with people.

Also, start your training journey and professional development journey. This isn’t bragging. This is just passing along information. By the way, Jason’s the least of all leaders and mentors. There are business leaders and mentors and coaches out there that you can go find to get all the information and he encourages you to go get them.

Tony Robbins always says, and Jason agrees with him, you have to have the right mindset and you have to get a mentor. You have to find somebody who’s wildly successful and go spend time and be around them as much as you can. Totally agree.

But you need to start your training journey and Jason will just tell you because he can. From his journey, the first certification training he ever went to was the CM-BIM AGC certification. Then he did the CM-Lean. Then he did the Lean Construction certification. Then he went and did his Design Build Institute of America certification. He was like “Dang, I really like this.” Then he started doing the business. Actually, there were executive coaching sessions with Tony Robbins and some others. Then he went to a Tony Robbins event. Then he did a report. Then and then and then.

It went from, like Eric Thomas always says, it went from $1,000 to $3,000 to then $5,000. Now every year Jason spends $15,000 to $30,000 on professional development training for himself. Next year it’ll be $50,000. The year after that it’ll be $60,000. Maybe actually next year it’ll be $85,000 because there’s a platinum partnership that Tony Robbins has that he would totally sign up for if he had the money. You cannot underemphasize the importance of professional development. Start your journey now.

You Have to Campaign If You Want to Be Elected President

The other thing is advertising. It doesn’t matter. Jason will give you an example. George Bush, whether you like him or not, Bill Clinton, whether you like him or not, doesn’t matter. George Bush, and Jason remembers this as a little kid, didn’t really politic, didn’t really campaign, and wasn’t really out beating the streets. He thought that he should be elected just based on what people knew he was doing. Bill Clinton out there connecting with people, jamming out, campaigning, doing his thing. Who won? Bill Clinton.

You cannot become an executive or a CEO and not advertise and let people know what you’re doing and let people know where you are and what’s going on and show up at public events and connect with people and be a part of charities and do these things. You have to be able to do that and be known to your people. You have to campaign if you want to be elected president.

The other thing is you have to be good with finances. You have to be able to learn that whether you like it or not. If you didn’t go to business school, go look up the Keith Cunningham 4-Day MBA. Is it 4-day or 5-day? Jason thinks it’s a 4-day, could be a 5-day MBA. Anyway, if you don’t get it with 4-day, put in 5-day. He thinks it’s the 4-Day MBA program with Keith Cunningham. Go learn finances, accounting, business, and get those basics.

The Universe Will Conspire to Put You in Position

Last and most importantly, if you want to become a CEO or an executive, take care of your family, your health, your spirituality, your finances, your growth, and make sure your entire life is balanced. But most especially, take care of your family.

When you have these things in place, the universe, God, whatever you believe, will conspire to put you into positions where you can affect a larger amount of people with a greater amount of influence doing the most important things. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

FAQ

Q: Why do I have to remember people’s names to become a CEO?

You have to start remembering people’s names. That’s self-explanatory. You’re thinking you’re not good at it. God didn’t gift you with that. It’s not easy. Don’t care. You want to be a CEO or an executive. You have to remember people’s names. You need to start spending most of your time with people. You need to stop doing the doing and do as little of the doing as you possibly can and start doing the leading, the mentoring, the coaching, the guiding, the supporting, the loving. Start spending most of your time with people.

Q: How much should I invest in professional development?

You need to start your training journey and professional development journey. From Jason’s journey, the first certification training he ever went to was the CM-BIM AGC certification. Then he did the CM-Lean. Then he did the Lean Construction certification. Then he went and did his Design Build Institute of America certification. Then executive coaching sessions with Tony Robbins and some others. It went from $1,000 to $3,000 to then $5,000. Now every year Jason spends $15,000 to $30,000 on professional development training for himself. Next year it’ll be $50,000. The year after that it’ll be $60,000. You cannot underemphasize the importance of professional development. Start your journey now.

Q: Why do I need to advertise and campaign to become an executive?

George Bush didn’t really politic, didn’t really campaign, wasn’t really out beating the streets. He thought that he should be elected just based on what people knew he was doing. Bill Clinton out there connecting with people, jamming out, campaigning, doing his thing. Who won? Bill Clinton. You cannot become an executive or a CEO and not advertise and let people know what you’re doing and let people know where you are and what’s going on and show up at public events and connect with people and be a part of charities and do these things. You have to be able to do that and be known to your people. You have to campaign if you want to be elected president.

Q: What are the steps to personal mastery I need to follow?

You have to have the clarity of where you want your life to go, a rich and a growth mindset (you can look those graphics up, those books, Mindset by Carol Dweck or The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind), then you have to have a killer personal organization system that allows you to conquer everything you should be doing, and a morning routine. Your morning routine every day will focus you on being grateful for what you have and giving. You will never be a good CEO or executive and probably won’t even become a CEO or an executive if you don’t give first to the people around you.

Q: What’s most important if I want to become a CEO or executive?

Last and most importantly, if you want to become a CEO or an executive, take care of your family, your health, your spirituality, your finances, your growth, and make sure your entire life is balanced. But most especially, take care of your family. When you have these things in place, the universe, God, whatever you believe, will conspire to put you into positions where you can affect a larger amount of people with a greater amount of influence doing the most important things.

On we go.