“What does it take to be a good CEO?” I asked Robin Richards, founder of Interships.com and former leader of MP3.com, The NTI Group & Tickets.com. You can see (or read) his answer here.

The clip

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The transcript

You give credit and take blame.

If it goes wrong it is your fault. If it goes right it is one of your troop’s accomplishments.

If they know that you are in their corner, if they know that you have their best interest in mind, and if they know you are a smart person, and that you lead with compassion, and you lead with a strategy with a clear set of tactics, that you are going to do the best you can to get over this hump and that you actually wouldn’t be wasting your time, if you didn’t think you could get over this hump, “you guys go to work, let me fight the fight, and if you do your job, I’ll do my job,” and I think people really respond to understanding that when the chips are down that’s the CEO’s job, that’s the founder’s job, when the chips are down, the founder must address the problems, whether that’s his or her area of expertise or not they have to be willing to take that ball and solve that problem.

Front and center, total accountability, total responsibility, and the other thing I think a CEO has to do is they have to think of the big idea, it is their job to break the company out and you have to understand it is lonely being a CEO and it is hard being a CEO and you have to take on the hard stuff and the only time you get credit is after the victory, and that’s how it should be.

Continue to the full interview >>