The 4 essential questions every CEO must answer to succeed

In this post you will discover the 4 essential questions every CEO must answer to succeed. 

"You can achieve anything in life if you want it bad enough and if you believe in yourself." - Mark Moses

The proven step by step system to get you the results you want is contained in these 4 questions every entrepreneur should answer to succeed:

1. What do I really want?
2. What do I need to do to get it?
3. What's going to get in my way?
4. How do I hold myself accountable to get what I want?

We invited Mark Moses to join us as a guest on our Fireside chat. He is the founding partner of CEO Coaching International and author of the best-selling book, "Make Big Happen." The full fireside chat is available on Youtube here

The reason Mark is super-qualified to teach us how to achieve the results we want is because:

1. He started his first business at 19 and sold it at 26.
2. He started his second business and grew it to $1,6 billion revenue before selling it.
3. His current company, CEO Coaching International ranked as the #1 Fastest-Growing Company in Los Angeles, and #10 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S.

Before we get into the 4 essential questions, I have a question for you. Have you ever hired an elephant and rode it through the streets to your office blocks? Most people haven't. Mark Moses did! And this was in the United States, not in Africa or India where it would be far less unusual. You see, he wanted to make a statement. A statement that it was possible to think big and achieve big. It worked! Within 8 years of this bold display, his company earned 1,6 US Dollars annual revenue. That's big thinking. You can think big too. And you can implement a system to make big happen.  

Right, let's get started...

QUESTION 1: WHAT IS IT YOU REALLY WANT?

It all starts with deciding what it is you want. The best system in the world can't get you to your desired outcome if you don't know what that outcome is. 

This is not something you need to momentarily contemplate and then move on... NO! You need to be intentional. What is it you REALLY want? What result do you desire? And in what time frame? 

Mark's family started a tradition in that they would write down their goals for each year and put it up on the fridge. This is the impetus that got them achieving great things. It's amazing what you can achieve when you write down your goals and display them where they are visible. 

A client of Mark's, who was incidentally broke, decided it's time to start setting up HOTs (Huge Outrageous Targets). He stood up in front of his board and declared that over 10 years they would grow to a become a business doing $1 billion. The board laughed. He achieved the goal with 5 years to spare. Intention! 

You need to understand that nothing works if you don't first decide what it is that you want. 

QUESTION 2: WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET IT?

Once you have your target in place, you ask what are the specific and measurable activities you can keep score on that drive that outcome.

It boils down to a basic equation: 
If I do x then I get y. 

Mark said if you ask him what's really the thing that makes successful people, he would say its defining the specific activities required to drive results.  

It's important not to define the outcome, but rather the task. The outcome would be something like increasing sales. That doesn't provide a practical way forward. How do you increase sales? What are the actual tasks you need to do?

QUESTION 3: WHAT'S GOING TO GET IN MY WAY?

You are the one setting the target, it's personal to you. You are also the one who could potentially stand in the way of your target. The reality is that nobody knows you better than you do. Once you have a list of the practical tasks needed to reach your target, you have to ask what's going to get in the way achieving it. 

Is it fear? Is it a lack of confidence? Is it a lack of money? Is it that you lack the skill or know-how? Is it that you don't have the people you need?

You want to get inside yourself and identify the stories you tell yourself that hold you back. 

Then you take each item you've identified, and figure out how you are going to overcome it. This process helps you overcome your weaknesses and blindspots by planning to compensate for them in advance. 

QUESTION 4: HOW DO I HOLD MYSELF ACCOUNTABLE?

If you've got your system in place, then the reality is that if you just follow through and do what you said you would do, then you will get the desired result. But sometimes following through isn't that easy. 

This is why you need accountability. Ask how you hold yourself accountable to follow through on the tasks you've identified every day, every week, every month, every quarter. If you set this accountability in place, you are on your way. 

Here are some practical take-aways:

• It's time to set some HOTs (Huge Outrageous Targets).
• You can have a long-term goal over 10 or so years, and then build stages working towards it with intermediary goals.
• Write your goals down and put them up where you can see them.
• Remove the parameters holding you back.
• Define what practical tasks are needed to get results.
• Identify what's holding you back and how you can overcome it.
• Determine how you can hold yourself accountable to follow through.

Watch the complete fireside chat here for in-depth explanations, examples, and additional tips.