CEOs are not Superheroes: Why Your Startup’s Success Relies on You Not Doing It All

We often compare today’s CEOs to superheroes, expecting them to be everywhere at once and be masters of everything—from pitching to the board and selling to clients to managing teams and budgets.  

This image of the all-powerful CEO is not only unfair but also impractical. CEOs, no matter how talented, can’t do it all. Being successful as a CEO today is about recognizing that your time – and talent – is finite and your success is not a solo journey. Think about it: Apple wouldn’t be what it is today without the close knit collaboration of Jobs and Woz. Mark Zuckerberg gave the world Facebook, but Sheryl Sandberg made it profitable. Most famous CEOs, despite their incredible drive and talent, relied heavily on their trusted allies to achieve their goals.

StackedSP CEO, Ilan Saks, recently sat down with Ex-Shopify CFO and CEO Coach, Mark MacLeod, on the Unstacked Startups podcast. Together they got into the role of the CEO, and what CEOs can do to maximize success—today and in the long term.

The Myth of the Superhero CEO

There’s a pervasive myth that a CEO must excel at everything to be successful. The belief that a CEO should master every aspect of the business can lead to burnout, poor decision-making, and missed opportunities. No individual, no matter how talented, can maintain peak performance across all areas. 

This myth of the omnipotent CEO creates unsustainable pressure that can cripple even the most promising leaders. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, states, “Trying to do it all and expecting that it all can be done exactly right is a recipe for disappointment. Perfection is the enemy.”

The pressure CEOs feel is not only unrealistic but also deeply flawed. The truth is, even the most capable leaders have their limits and need a strong team to thrive. Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and best-selling author, emphasizes this point: 

“No one can be an expert in everything. The best leaders are those who recognize their limitations and surround themselves with people who fill those gaps.”

So, how can you best recognize and manage your limits? 

Take on Less in the Early Startup Days

In the early days of a startup, the CEO title may not actually be a good one for a founder. CEO Coach, Mark MacLeod, believes that founders should be realistic about their role in the early days, saying:

“Only when we build a product that some segment of the market embraces do we bother building a company. So until then, you’re not a CEO, you’re a product manager, and what you need to do is iterate as rapidly as possible on the product until you find product market fit and you find a segment of the market that loves that product.”

In these initial startup stages, the startup founder must accomplish two things: identify a customer segment with a problem, and build a product that successfully solves that problem. There’s an argument to be made that everything else can wait. While you need to still surround yourself with advisors and cheerleaders, you don’t need a massive team. While you still need to get the word out, you don’t need to be a brand and marketing expert. And while you still need to care about cash and growth, you need to focus on building powerful, repeatable processes that result in sticky revenue.

When the To Do List Expands: The Power of a Strong Team

We often idolize CEOs as superheroes, but as the cliché goes, all superheroes need a team. While initially founders typically conquer most things alone, as a startup fledges, CEOs should shift their focus to building a team of exceptional talent that fills their gaps and aligns with their vision. 

As more and more tasks and functions are needed, the CEO should not take on ‘more’. In fact, Mark McLeod shares that he thinks the overwhelmed CEO is actually a victim of their own inability to rely on their team:

“Many CEOs, when they come to me for coaching, it’s because they just can’t keep up. They’re in back to back to back to back meetings. They’re doing Slack. Whenever they’re doing emails at night, they pile into bed, exhausted and rinse and repeat… Oftentimes the CEOs also do this to themselves, right? They don’t let go enough. They don’t hire strong enough people, and then therefore, they’re forced to have lots of these things.”

Relying on your team is not a sign of weakness but of strategic wisdom. Surrounding yourself with people who offer – and value others’ – diverse skills and perspectives can propel your organization to new heights. 

As a CEO, your job is to steer the ship, but you need a capable crew to navigate the waters. John C. Maxwell, leadership expert and author, says, “Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.” Making good decisions about your early startup teams is crucial.

Having Courage and Humility to Embrace the Collective Effort

Mark shares: “The CEO role is pretty lonely. You don’t get a lot of feedback other than your board kind of ‘nagging’ on you. I encourage CEOs to be vulnerable, to be authentic, to be themselves with their management team, with their board. Have a great coach or CEO peer group. The ability to have a candid conversation can be game changing.” 

The narrative of the lone hero is compelling, but in reality, success is rarely a solo endeavor. It’s the result of a collaborative effort, where each team member plays a crucial role. Simon Sinek, author and motivational speaker, underscores this by saying, “A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”  

Having the wisdom to invest in your team, empower them, and nurture a culture of mutual support and continuous improvement can yield extraordinary results. It’s about building a network of authenticity, trust, and respect where everyone understands that success is best achieved together.

Conclusion: Redefining Success

It’s time to redefine what it means to be a successful CEO. Remember, even superheroes have limits. By embracing this mindset, you’ll not only alleviate the unrealistic burden of perfection but also unlock the full potential of your organization.

Rather than striving to be a jack-of-all-trades and owner of all, focus on being a master of saying “no” and relying on others. Recognize that your strength lies not in doing everything yourself but in harnessing the collective power of a talented team. Success is a team sport—play it wisely.

For more insights on effective leadership and team-building, subscribe to our Unstacked Startups podcast. Every month, we feature the experiences of seasoned leaders like Mark MacLeod, who share their journey and the importance of building strong teams. Join us and learn from the best to elevate your leadership game.