alexpe2294

Sales Account Manager

What's the best way to say NO to your CEO?

My CEO is a very fast paced person and usually has 10000 ideas per minute. Because of that, he can be quick to share them and take actions on things before thinking them through and analyzing them rationally first.

He tends to come to me a lot with ideas and ask me to do things that usually take a lot of time and most of the times he doesn't end up following through after I deliver.

He's a bit intimidating to me so it's tough for me to say no even if I have valid reasons of why I believe something is a waste of time.

How would you recommend to go about it, say no and overcome my fears of standing up to him so I don't waste too much time doing useless crap for him?

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14 comments

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Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CRpn_MTDx0p/?utm_medium=copy_link

I’d watch all her “people pleasers express” reels TBH. I use her advice constantly.

InQ5WeTrust

Arsonist

No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL

Great content. A southern no just hits different.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

I love this woman!!

Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

Me too. Her vid ideas are great, but she also just has good life advice.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

I had a CEO that was like that, and would put me on secret projects that I wasn't allowed to tell my manager about which ended up making me serve two gods.

I ended up just asking 'where does this fit on my priority list?' and letting her decide from there. If she listed it above quota attainment, then I did it first, if she said quota is king- I told her I'd get started after I hit my number for the month. That usually put the brakes on my 'side projects'.

msp_sales

Opinionated

Full Cycle Sales

My boss is a bit of a steamroller too. My favorite thing to do is ask questions, and get him engaged and actually thinking about the thing. Half of the time he’ll talk himself out of it.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Have you started tracking all of the projects he has thrown you on that have turned out to be worthless?

I would start there, show him how much time you are wasting on useless shit and map out how those x number of hours per week are taking you away from the projects that actually make the company money.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Do you know what happens if you just don't do the thing? Does he even notice?

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

I ended up just asking 'where does this fit on my priority list?' and letting her decide from there.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

Also, ask yourself why you are intimidated by your CEO. Are you worried he would fire you for not being a yes man? If so then I would look for somewhere else to work as long as you have good reason to believe that to be true obviously. Good leaders recognize that they don't know it all and welcome a little pushback to keep them grounded.

Another idea is straight telling him the struggle and coming clean that you're worried to tell him no because you find him a bit intimidating. A lot of folks don't even realize that they are, my father scared the shit out of all of my friends growing up but once they realized there was no reason to be intimidating he was a shit load of fun. Transparency is king.

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

I've commented this on a fair few posts on here, obviously depending on what personality your CEO has, honesty.

If you have valid reasons, are they backed up by stats?

If you haven't got stats, can you create some?

I'd produce results/stats on what you think is right compared to him and then go into a conversation professionally and without annoyance and show him them.

CEO's (hopefully) aren't going to neglect hard facts and figures.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Yes say no and tell him why. He s not a god. He’s a person.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

I have sponsored others to work for me in the past, and I can assure you that it costs roughly $3000 with a lawyer to hire someone who is not a US citizen.

Error32

Politicker

ISR

You need to have a green card/work visa to work for an American company even if it's remotely. You'd have to find a company willing to sponsor your visa.

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alexpe2294

What's the best way to say NO to your CEO?

14 comments

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