063 — Joel Trammell - From Founder to CEO

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Podcast Summary:

Joel Trammell, Founder & CEO of Khorus and a VERY experienced Founding CEO of two previous companies, took time out of his busy schedule to share some amazing insights about CEO decision-making. In this interview, he shares additional details about a key chapter in his book (The CEO Tightrope: How to Master the Balancing Act of a Successful CEO), “Deciding versus Building Consensus.” If you struggle with the challenges of CEO decision-making, you’ll want to listen to Joel’s wise insights.

Name: Joel Trammell, Founder & CEO

Company: Khorus

Powerful Promise of Value: Khorus gives CEOs a central place for running their business.

Headquartered In: Austin, Texas

His Book: The CEO Tightrope: How to Master the Balancing Act of a Successful CEO (Joel Trammell)

Key Interview Points:

“Consensus can be valuable, but it is not always possible.”
“You can’t always expect everybody in your organization to get to your vision as quickly as you did.”
“Sometimes you have to say, no, I know that’s where we need to go.”
“The CEO is ultimately responsible for making the decision.”
“You need to make the decision when you have 70% of the information available, not 100%.”
“When you do a startup, it’s like sand in an hour glass, you only have so much time to get product/market fit, you only have so much money, so much resources…”
“…any decisions that are above the water line…that aren’t going to sink the ship…I want those decisions made by other people in the organization…”
“When somebody brings you a problem, the first question you have to ask is…should I be making this decision?”
“Hiring is the most critical thing.”
“If you do hiring well, it makes every other part of the CEO job much, much easier.”
From Joel’s Book: “Admitting you were wrong and moving on will allow you to maintain credibility with your team.”
“If you don’t have that self-awareness, it’s very hard to get better as a CEO.”