The Rookie CEO: You Can’t Make this Stuff Up by Bill Miller

Check out this remarkably insightful book that explores the journeys of nine first-time CEOs. Bill Miller skillfully examines the triumphs and setbacks experienced by this group of rookie leaders. Packed with valuable lessons, this book can help you navigate and overcome potential obstacles as you steer your business toward success

Think being a CEO is all glamour, public relations and monitoring stock prices?  Maybe for large corporations, but not for a small business CEO.   However, the focus for both types of CEOs is the same—work on the business and focus on future growth.  To get started, Bill Miller outlines the path nine different people took to become a CEO.  He puts them into three categories:1) Startup CEO, 2) Mid-Revenue CEO and 3) Large-Stage CEO. He highlights their background and describes the companies that they are leading.

As you he looked at each CEO, he used what he called the “PPLC Framework”, to analyze the journey of each person to their CEO position.  There is a section of the book dedicated to the elements of each part of the framework. To provide some really valuable insights, Miller provides a short Takeaways section at the end of each chapter.

Here are the components of the PPLC Framework which make up the four sections of the book:

P—Path to CEO.  Every CEO has a different background and took a different path to get to the CEO role
P—Philosophy.  There different guiding lights or philosophies for each CEO and this has a direct impact on how they run the company.
L—Leadership Style.  Are they a micromanager or big picture guy. Process or People.  Are they “my way or the highway” of do they take a collaborative approach?
C—Culture.  Building a business and assembling a winning team requires that CEO create a winning culture. Many different ways to accomplish this.

Put yourself through the PPLC Framework as you review your journey to CEO.  As yourself these four questions:  1) What was your path?  2) Do you have a well-defined management philosophy? 3) What is your leadership style? 4) Have you thought about what kind of company culture you want to create?   The Rookie CEO gives a behind the scenes look at 9 Rookie CEOs who have achieved success and sometimes crashed into a brick wall. You can learn from both.

I like a book that is not based on academic theories but looks at real life examples that can be meaningful for a small business owner on the road to CEO.  It also provides a set of Takeaways that can be used as tools as you move into the CEO seat. As the overview of the book says:  “The Rookie CEO is a GPS for aspiring CEOs and leaders.  It will help you be better prepared when issues and opportunities come along and you can hit them head on and set the stage for success!”