The Perils of a CEO Who Chases Every Idea

It’s in the nature of startups that they will pivot. New ideas and new options will present themselves, requiring a significant shift in their approach. It’s hard to find a successful startup that didn’t have at least one or two significant pivots during the early years. In fact, it’s the agility that startups have to pivot so quickly that is arguably their biggest strength.

However, the ability to pivot quickly can sometimes be a detriment for startups. This can happen when CEOs struggle to separate new thoughts and ideas from concrete actions. A good CEO will always have new ideas and come up with responses to industry and market trends. But a good CEO must learn that it’s not good to chase every idea.

As a startup coach, I once worked with a CEO who was just like this. He would constantly share changes he wanted to make and new priorities he wanted to set every time he had a new idea. It literally drove his team crazy with how often this CEO changed his mind. Needless to say, that’s not a formula for building momentum.

Of course, a good CEO will always have new ideas, some of which might have merit. But you can’t be rash with how you pursue new ideas. Even agile startups can’t pivot from one idea, one area of focus, or one priority to the next on a weekly basis. There needs to be a timeframe for pursuing new ideas to optimize the business.

Ideally, new ideas will be written down and set aside. The CEO can then discuss these ideas with their team at a quarterly planning workshop. That is the proper setting for new ideas and optimizations to be discussed. After those discussions, it can be decided what optimizations should be explored and how the business should pivot.

Obviously, thinking up new ideas is a good thing. However, a good CEO will understand that new ideas shouldn’t be immediately implemented. Such a tactic is just going to create chaos and halt momentum. Rather than chasing every idea, startup leaders need to take a measured approach to any changes or pivots.