Revenue Journal®

He's smart. He's quick. He understand things long before others do. He likes to talk. Usually, people like to listen, because he often has something interesting to say. He sees opportunities long before others do, and rushes in to capitalize on them.

People who work for him trust his ability to keep the company on the leading edge. For the most part, they like working for him. He's a salesperson who has turned into an entrepreneur and now he's running a company.

Uh-oh.

What's the problem?

Charm is not a strategy. Charm is not a process, a system, or an answer to the many problems that CEOs have to solve.

Charm is a dangerous characteristic to possess, because it makes you think that you will be able to talk your way into anything and out of anything. Charmers don't manage; they sell. 24/7. No matter what the problem is, the charmer thinks, "I can fix this. I'll just talk to so and so, and everything will be fine."

When they first start a company, they get away with this for a while. Because they've jumped on a big opportunity, the Charmer CEO's company is the only game in town - for a while.

But once the competition gets wind of what they're doing, and launch an answer, the battle is no longer about being there first and telling a good story. It's about execution. It's about making it easy for customers to buy and running a company efficiently. It's about delivering on all those promises, day after stressful day. The Charmer CEO just doesn't have this in him.

If he's smart, and if he knows himself, he will see this coming. Before the situation gets out of hand, he will find and hire an operational type. That way, the Charmer can run around the world telling the story and making friends, while the operational type keeps the ship on course and on time. This partnership can work very well.

But most Charmers are overconfident about their own abilities. It's also difficult to hand something you founded over to someone else. And, Charmers always lose interest or change the subject when the conversation turns to process issues.

Instead of solving process problems, the Charmer will sit down with the people involved and have a heart-to-heart talk. He'll focus on the emotional issues, and the stories. The people who came in asking for help with a process will walk out feeling better emotionally, but they will also know the problem wasn't addressed and isn't really solved.

Over time, they will stop coming to the CEO for answers, will improvise their own (often conflicting) solutions, and anarchy will result. The CEO won't realize how bad it is, because no one will be coming to him anymore with problems. Employees and investors will start looking for another leader.

If you are a Charmer, and you've started a company, the sooner you hire a first-rate operational person, the better. Don't think of it as a failure on your part; think of it as a testimony to your superior charm. You are the best person to be out and about, spreading the word and bringing new deals in. You'll be out there making promises, and your inside person will be making sure you can keep them.

This inside person must be strong, smart, and solid. If he is truly an operational type, he won't try to wrestle control from you. He will be perfectly happy running things while you get the glory.

You will want to give him your total support. You can't override his decisions. If you disagree with something he's decided or done, take it up with him privately. Your employees should never see you argue, nor should they hear either one of you speak badly about the other person.

If you're working for a Charmer CEO, you're probably frustrated. You probably appreciate where he's taken the company so far, but you're worried about the future. You can see how fragile the processes and systems are.

On one hand, you're glad the CEO is able to go out and make big deals, but on the other, you have no idea how the company is going to successfully fill those orders. These concerns weigh heavily on you, every day. You talk to others in the company about them, and they feel the same way, but no one knows exactly what to do about them. They, too, have given up trying to talk to the Charmer CEO about them, since he never takes them very seriously and never follows up on anything.

Sometimes a Charmer just needs a little nudge (OK, a big nudge). If you're working for a Charmer, and you have physical access to his desk, feel free to print this out and lay it on him.

And Mr. Charmer - if you get this, the situation is much, much worse than you think, and you should be very grateful to whomever just slipped you this article.

Start looking for that operational type.