CEO Time

Guesswork Unveiled, Issue #13

CEO Time

Guesswork Unveiled, Issue #13

When I acquired my business, I was focused on putting guardrails around me to provide support & guidance throughout the journey. One of these included recruiting an advisory board — a couple investors, a couple SMB owners, and one CEO of a portfolio company (from my former PE firm). All folks I respect & trust to give me honest advice.

Next week, I plan to write a bit about how the advisory board has functioned, what has worked well, and what hasn’t.

But today, I want to talk about CEO Time, a concept introduced to me by Andy O’Brien, President & CEO of Good Leaf Farms. Prior to that role, he was CEO of M&M Food Markets, one of my former PE firm’s portfolio companies, which is how I got to know him.

He walked me through his views on CEO Time in the early days of my business. Frankly, I didn’t quite understand how impactful it could be at the time.

As a result, I’ve gone through a couple iterations of CEO Time implementation over the years, which I summarize below — hopefully you can take some inspiration in building this into your own weekly routines if you find my path compelling.

Before diving in — a big thank you to Andy for his support over the past few years, both as a business owner and when I was at my PE firm. His time is valuable and he’s graciously volunteered it to me time & time again.