Sticking to the Story in Board Meetings

Staying Aligned to the CEOs Messaging is More Important Than You Think

Welcome Leaders!

Every leader spends time getting their teams on the same page. It’s a big part of the job, especially for CEOs who have to make sure the entire company is in sync.

When you’re a manager, having someone on your team say something stupid in a random meeting is not the end of the world.

However, one of the CEO’s direct reports going off-script in a Board meeting, with an investor, or the media could be catastrophic.

That’s why leaders at every level should learn to stick to their bosses narrative & messaging.

Does that mean you should never express an opinion or disagree with your boss? No. But you have to pick the appropriate time and place (and a Board meeting isn’t one of them!).

Let’s dive into this fun topic and true up this vital skill for the aspiring CTO or product leader.

Cheers,

Bobby

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I remember one of the earliest Board meetings in my career and what a difficult experience it was for me.

Actually, the meeting itself went perfectly fine. It was what happened AFTER the meeting that was shall we say, “challenging.”

I got chewed out by the CEO. 🙀

And rightfully so.

I was really early in my career and I made one of the cardinal mistakes of many early stage CTOs: I went against the narrative & messaging of my boss.

It wasn’t intentional and I didn’t realize I was doing it at the time, but it was still a big mistake.

Actually, the CEO and I were fine a week later and went on to be great friends and achieved big results together but…yeah, not a good moment for me.

I learned a super valuable lesson that day. And today I’ll dig into that lesson, the reasons and implications of what I did wrong, and what happens when you deviate too far from the game-plan of your CEO in a Board meeting.

Et tu, Brute?

Board meetings are high-stakes environments — we all know that. They are the ultimate meeting for most leaders. In a lot of companies Board calls are where all the biggest business decisions are made.

You do not want to negatively impact a Board meeting for yourself or the rest of the ELT by running your own script.

But who is a Board meeting for anyway?