7 Gifts To Give Your CEO

In this holiday season, people love to receive gifts.  Well, what gifts would your company’s CEO love to receive from you? 

Here are seven “gifts” you really need to go all out to give your CEO, according to Michael Mercer, Ph.D., a consultant and book author in Barrington, IL.

As the saying goes, “What goes around, comes around.”  So, give these gifts and you will earn yourself the right to some magnificent “gifts,” also.

1st Gift = Improve Profits & Productivity

Mercer interviewed 20 CEOs for one of his books.  One question he asked each CEO was “What is the most important thing for you to get your employees to focus on?”

Overwhelmingly, CEOs answered, “The most important thing for me to get employees to focus on is this:  Improving profits and productivity.”  So, Dr. Mercer suggests you remember, “Everyone who is part of the profit-generating team in your company is ultra-important, a true VIP.” 

2nd Gift = Hire Employees Who Improve Profits & Productivity

A key way to improve profits and productivity is to hire applicants who turn into productive and profitable employees.

In his seminars on his book entitled, “Hire the Best – & Avoid the Rest,” Mercer teaches, “The fastest and cheapest way to have productive, dependable employees is to hire people who are productive, dependable human beings!”

That means you gift your CEO by only putting employees on your payroll who improve ‘the 2 P’s.”  Mercer also recommends, “De-employ employees who do not contribute to, or detract from, your company’s bottom line.”

3rd Gift = Develop & Train Your Employees So They Become More Profitable & Productive

CEOs – including your CEO – craves for you to transform the good employees you hired (see 2nd Gift, above) into magnificent employees.  The best way to do this, explains Mercer, is to “test your superstar employees, find out their test scores, and then help your average employees develop talents possessed by your superstars.”

4th Gift = Ooze Enthusiasm for Your CEO’s Vision for Your Company

A good CEO has a big, exciting vision, or key goal, for the company to achieve.  In his book entitled, “Absolutely Fabulous Organizational Change,” Mercer revealed the vision of 11 superb companies.  For example, Intuit’s vision is this:  “Our key goal is to revolutionize the way people

do financial work.”

Mercer points out your job is to find out your CEO’s vision, and help your CEO achieve your company’s vision.  Your CEO will cherish such a gift from you.

5th Gift = Ooze Key Benefits of Your Corporate Culture

Each company operates successfully or unsuccessfully, says Dr. Mercer, within its corporate culture.  He defines it as follows:  “Corporate culture is how every employee knows he or she must act, even when no one is watching.”

Mercer discovered a quick way to uncover a company’s culture:  “Find out what stories every employee hears about the company the first week on-the-job, and re-tells to new employees.”  Hearing the story implicitly tells a new employee how to act on-the-job.  For example, every Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company employee hears a story about how the company’s president’s first job was in a fancy restaurant.  From that job, he discovered a luxury establishment is composed of ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.  He instilled this insight into The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company where he now is president.

In fact, Mercer notes every Ritz-Carlton employee carries a card that says, “We Are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” 

So, a gift your CEO want from you is for you to uncover your company’s culture, put it into action in your work, and make sure other employees do the same. 

6th Gift = Make a Fantastic Impression

CEOs are like parents.  Parents feel proud if their children make a good impression.  Likewise, “CEOs feel proud when their employees make a good impression,” says Mercer.

So, the author suggests a gift for your CEO is to make a fantastic impression on everyone who can make-or-break your company.  This includes customers and other employees.

7th Gift = Impress Your Company’s Top Executives

“It is ultra-important to impress your boss, your boss’ boss, and anyone who has direct contact to the CEO,” says Mercer.

Well, how do you impress your company’s big-shots?  The answer is for you to give the six gifts listed above, according to Mercer. 

Your Reward = When You Give These 7 Gifts, You Get Gifts

Mercer found that by giving your CEO the seven gifts, you put into action the age-old truism of ‘What goes around comes around.’  “Giving the seven gifts to your CEO opens doors to opportunities you never dreamed of for your company and, importantly, your career,” points out Dr. Mercer.

© 2006 Michael Mercer, Ph.D., http://www.DrMercer.com