Why COOs Need to Be Themselves

It is essential for a COO to be themself to have a long and successful future, but being yourself in business is easier said than done.

Learning to be yourself and accept yourself even as a business leader like a COO helps you to find your core values, which are essential to your success and the success of your company. The core values for your company are already inside you. You just have to let yourself close your eyes and feel them. Four very useful values are as follows:

• Do what you love
• Be authentic/Be yourself
• Deliver what you promise
• Balance is key

So how are these essential to being a COO?

Do What You Love

Doing what you love is based on the concept of  “Unique Ability” by Dan Sullivan. For some COOs, coaching, mentoring, and speaking are fun and come naturally. That is their unique ability that gives them a leg up in the competition. Whatever their unique ability is, they get energy doing it and others get energy watching them do it.

By doing what you love and what you have a unique ability for, you exude energy that will spread to others. If you don’t love what you’re doing and have passion for it, it’s unlikely it’s going to bring you much success. Passion is essential.

Be Authentic/Be Yourself

The idea of a “game face” or a “professional voice” is actually completely and utterly absurd. When people are really themselves, they resonate with everyone around them. As a COO, your energy vibrates when you’re purely and authentically being you. When you wear what you want, say what you mean, and let your vulnerabilities out, others will be attracted to you.

Besides, it feels great to be yourself. As they say, you might as well be yourself since everyone else is taken.

“In today’s world, authenticity is what many customers look for in a brand so it’s important that you bring it into your business—and it begins with you. What some people do not realize is that authenticity isn’t something that you can fake—it seems like common sense but you’d be surprised.” – Cameron Herold

Deliver What You Promise

Deliver what you promise. That’s it. That’s enough said. You’re a COO. You’re a leader. People look up to you. You need to stay true to your promises as much as you need to stay true to yourself.

“Trust in business is low (though higher than trust in government) and broken commitments appear to be a significant cause. For example, when asked what CEO’s could do to improve trust, 72% of respondents to one survey said, “Do a better job of keeping your promises.”” – Harvard

Balance is Key

You get one life. One single life. You don’t need to live it working 65 hour weeks, not even as a successful COO. Often, people will work insane hours and wear it like a badge of honor. There is nothing to be proud of in not giving yourself some free time. Balance is essential to success. Without it, burnout is inevitable.

These are two mantras every COO should live by:

• Remain interested to remain interesting (Jillian Dixon Boxer).
• The Lazy Entrepreneur (Dave Feller)

Even as a hardworking business leader, you can still have fun! Don’t let success take that away from you or, eventually, that will take away from your success.

What are your core values? How do you stay true to yourself as a COO or other business leader? Let us know in the comments down below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2017 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.