The Peyton Manning CEO

Now that the Tigers Wood attention has calmed down just a bit, I can tell this brief story…The week after the Tiger Woods incident, I was speaking to a group of CEOs. As I usually do, I started to describe the three kinds of CEOs that are most interested in declaring an exciting and valuable future for themselves and their companies:

1. The First Time Serial CEO – this is the CEO that wants to sell his business so he can immediately get on to the next big idea

2. The CEO Who Prefers to Work ON his or her Business – this is the CEO who seeks to stop working IN their business all the time. This concept is based on a wonderful book by Michael Gerber called e-Myth, about a bakery store owner who learns about the great entrepreneurial myth, that working “in your business” is not nearly as important as working “on your business.”

3. The Tiger Woods CEO - this is the CEO that seeks to master the game of being a CEO.As you can tell, my third descriptor no longer worked, unless I am looking for laughs, as it immediately conjured up images that I did not intend when I originally thought of it. So, then I started thinking which current celebrity athlete best embodies that third type of CEO. A person who performs their chosen craft not for money, not for fame, and not for power, but for the pure enjoyment of working on their craft to be the best they can be. In other words, Peyton Manning (and that’s coming from a lifetime New York Jets fan).

Peyton Manning CEOs treat being a CEO just like any other hobby where your personal goal is just to be the best you can be. In golf, it is lowering your handicap; in tennis it is increasing your rating and for CEOs – it is about increasing the long-term value of their company. If being the best CEO you can be and all it entails is not your primary purpose in your role as CEO, perhaps it should be.