Sure, LeBron James, Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps and Simone Biles are all candidates. But an equally strong case can be made for Ashton Eaton.Eaton is a two-time gold medalist, five-time world champion and serial world record holder in the decathlon, in which individuals compete in 10 different track and field events. But he is hardly a household name.
All CEOs have six responsibilities: setting direction, aligning the organization, mobilizing leaders, engaging the board, connecting with stakeholders, and managing personal effectiveness. Like a decathlete, they can’t be great at just one and expect to become a champion. They should be good across the board.
Does the CEO have a mindset of boldness? The best CEOs tend to think big—so much so that they are even willing to redefine what winning looks like, and in doing so they expand their company’s total addressable market. When Ajay Banga became CEO of Mastercard MA, +1.19% in 2010, he didn’t just think about beating other credit-card companies. Noting that 80% of transactions at the time were cash-based, his vision was much more striking: “Kill cash.
But the evidence is that without boldness, there is little chance of earning great returns. Making one or two bold moves more than doubles the likelihood of a company going from average to the top 20% in financial performance; making three or more makes it six times more likely. If the CEO isn’t talking about culture publicly, there is a chance that it isn’t being taken seriously. After all, external sources of information are powerful influencers on employee behaviors. Talk can be just talk, but there are plenty of clues, such as employee evaluations on social media, to indicate whether the CEO is walking the talk to ensure that the desired culture is taking hold.