This week on the Expert Voices podcast, Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio, welcomes back Michelle Valentine, Co-founder and CEO of Anrok and a prominent figure in the SaaS industry known for her innovative strategies and effective leadership. Randy and Michelle explore the "Seven Secrets of Success," focusing on delivering results, building winning strategies, and shaping company values. Michelle shares her unique experiences and methodologies, including the concept of "murphyjitsu," a strategic approach to anticipate and mitigate potential failures in business projects. She also shares how creating culture holds people accountable and fosters growth, elaborating on the power of intuition and making space for reflection. 

 Quotes

• People want to work on winning teams, and so results matter. Rallying the team and seeing what you're doing together is really important. Creating a culture that holds people accountable and stretches people for those goals is absolutely the number one thing that a CEO needs to keep their eye on." -Michelle Valentine [02:40]

• “The best CEOs tend to be right a lot, and the only way to do that is to invest in building your intuition. In our last conversation, you and I talked about how to quantify how confident you are about something. This could be like, "I have low epistemic confidence, I'm medium, I have high epistemic confidence." Then you could even start prescribing a percentage on that. It really is so subjective.” -Michelle Valentine [26:57]

Expert Takeaways 

• Outcome-Driven Culture: Driving results and creating a culture that holds people accountable are paramount for a CEO's success.
• Murphy Jitsu Framework: An innovative approach borrowed from the Center for Applied Rationality, focusing on anticipating and mitigating what could go wrong in strategic plans.
• Shaping Values and Standards: Building a company's values and standards through a mix of aspirational and actual values, ensuring they evolve as the company grows.
• Building Intuition: The path to being 'right a lot' as a CEO involves honing one’s intuition through curiosity, pattern matching, and continuous learning.
• Effective Team Dynamics: The importance of transparent communication within executive teams, balancing one-on-one interactions with group problem-solving to enhance decision-making.

Timestamps

(00:05) Seven Secrets of Success for CEOs

(03:35) Applying Murphyjitsu for Effective Risk Management in Business

(12:58) Shaping Company Values and Standards for Long-Term Success

(21:58) Balancing One-on-Ones and Group Discussions for Effective Leadership

(32:51) The Importance of Reflection and Meditation for Problem Solving

(35:28) Diagnose Before Deploying Resources for Efficient Strategy and Operations

Links

Maxio

Upcoming Events

Maxio Institute Report

Randy Wootton LinkedIn 

Michelle Valentine LinkedIn