Ten Rules for CEOs in Tough Times

I’ve talked with lots of tech and biotech startup CEOs recently who are going through tough times. It’s hard out there right now. Here are my personal rules for operating through hard times. Sharing in case they can help someone amp it up. We need more builders in this world.

1. Stop at nothing to achieve the mission.

Make sure your company’s mission is your driving force and your greatest tool. It needs to be bold and inspirational—something that you’re willing to suffer for. The mission is what keeps you and your teammates going when times are tough. Be relentless in your pursuit. To paraphrase Elon Musk, "Optimism. Pessimism. Fuck that. We're going to make it happen."

2. Force yourself and your team to prioritize ruthlessly.

People hate prioritizing. They will resist and say that many things are important. But if you create an ordered list, only one thing will be at the top. Period. Focus is essential, so find your top priority and spend all your time on it. Just do it, and make sure all your people do it too.

3. Get hands on in a crisis; and there's always a crisis.

Create an ordered list of all of the challenges your company is facing. Whichever rises to the top is a crisis. This is your top priority as CEO. Get your hands dirty and get it fixed. Right now.

4. Every deliverable must have a single person who owns it and a clear due date and time.

There is no such thing as shared ownership. Assign everything to a single person, and make that person commit to delivering at a specific date and time. For example, “I will share this memo with the leadership team via slack by 5pm PT on Friday.” Make everything as specific as possible, ambiguity is the enemy.

5. Keep simplifying until you're moving fast.

Complexity is the nemesis of speed. And slowness is death. So keep simplifying things until the company is moving with blazing speed on all fronts.

6. Hire for attitude first, and skills second.

Adaptability. Determination. Grit. Hire go-getters. People who want to take on hard problems because they want to have an impact. Start interviewing for these traits, and check references personally for all senior hires.

7. Know who your top performers are.

Complete this exercise at least once a year. Imagine you could only keep 50% of your employees. Who would they be? Now, what if it was only 25%? Review everyone for attitude in addition to skills. Once you’ve identified them, rally your top performers to the cause.

8. Honesty is always the best policy.

If you’ve hired the right people and partnered with the right investors, then you’ve got a team that relishes challenges. They know that there’s no such thing as a blocker, just an obstacle waiting to be destroyed as you smash through it full steam ahead. So do not hide things from your team. Ever.

9. Do something to reboot your brain every day.

Find something you can do to shut your brain off for a while outside of work. This could be exercise, meditation, video games—it doesn’t matter—whatever forces you to stop from thinking about work. Set aside some time for these activities every day. It’s non-negotiable. Both your family and your colleagues will thank you, and you’ll do your job better.

10. Don't let anyone try to fix you.

I bet people often tell you to relax, to have more fun at work, that you’re too intense. To be frank, many people probably don’t like you very much right now. Soft people like peacetime CEOs and will try to push you in that direction, but hard times call for hard people. Don’t listen to the noise. Trust yourself. Do what you think is right.