234. 2024 Reflections: Are You the CEO Your Career Deserves?

Do you think year-end reviews are just about listing what you did?

Think again.

In this episode, you'll learn how to assess your year like a CEO - because whether you're a founder, innovator or investor, you're running the company of YOU.

Most people focus on activities - meetings attended, features shipped, deals analysed. But real leaders focus on impact and power dynamics.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• How to evaluate what you actually transformed in 2024
• Why being busy with innovation initiatives isn't the same as real change
• How to tell if you're hiding in product development instead of facing the market
• How to shift power dynamics in your favour
• Why your team is bigger than you think (even if you work alone)

Part 1 of a special 2-part series on becoming the CEO your career deserves.

Resource mentioned in this episode:

• Tech for Non-Techies: 221. How Paypal innovates

Timestamps

01:58 Reflecting on the Year as the CEO of Your Life

04:20 Question 1: What Have You Transformed This Year?

06:42 Founders: Did You Focus on Customer Traction or Product Development?

09:09 Question 2: Have You Used AI to Solve Real Problems?

11:30 Question 3: Have You Shifted the Power Dynamic in Your Favour?

13:51 Question 4: Who Was on Your Team This Year?

16:00 Recap of the Four Questions

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Transcript

Sophia Matveeva (00:00.43)

As we wrap up 2024, most people will just look at what they did this year, the meetings they attended, the features they shipped, the deals that they analyzed. But successful leaders look at what they transformed and at whether the balance of power is in their favor. Whether you're a founder, corporate innovator or investor, today's episode will help you understand what really moved the needle this year and set you up for an extraordinary 2025.

Welcome to the Tech for Now Techies podcast. I'm your host, tech entrepreneur, executive coach at Chicago Booth MBA, Safiya Matheer. My aim here is to help you have a great career in the digital age. In a time when even your coffee shop has an app, you simply have to speak tech. On this podcast, I share core technology concepts, help you relate them to business outcomes, and most importantly, share practical advice on what you can do to become a digital leader today. If you want to a great career in the digital age, this podcast is for you. Hello smart people. How are you today? This episode is coming out on the 25th of December, so Christmas Day for the Catholics and the Protestants. So Merry Christmas to those of you who are celebrating. And for everybody, it's a great time to reflect on our year, whatever your creed.

But my dear smart person, do not just do sensible things at this time of year. Please make sure to also enjoy yourself and celebrate. I'm neither Catholic nor Protestant, but I'm going to spend 25th of December drinking champagne in the sun with people I love, so do make sure you have some fun too. It is the festive season after all. And in today's episode, we are going to reflect on your year as the CEO of your life.

Sophia Matveeva (01:58.028)

We're going to focus on reflecting on the past year and in the next episode, we're going to focus on planning for a brilliant year ahead. And I know that many of you are actually going to listen to this episode many months or maybe even years later after it comes out because I'm seeing what people are doing with episodes that I released about four years ago. Honestly, you can do this reflection at any time of year. Don't only think that reflection and planning are just available in December and January. So when we are reflecting and when we're planning, we're doing it as the CEO of your life. And so that means that we're going to focus on your strategic goals, just the way that a good CEO is going to focus on their company's goals. And please don't think that this is not relevant to you if you're not a CEO yet, or if you don't ever want to become one. Because whether you're raising money or whether you're an innovator creating something new, or an investor picking winners, you are running a company and that company is the company of you. Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn said that the success strategies for individuals and companies are remarkably similar. And this is why on this show you learn business and innovation lessons that you can apply to your ventures, to other people's ventures, and also to your own selves. So what does a CEO do?

Well, the CEO's job is to set the vision and get a team together to enact that vision and to set goals for that team. And all of this applies even if you're an individual contributor at work and also it applies to your home life. And before we get started, I have a question for you. Have you left the show a rating and a review? And if not, how about leaving me a lovely Christmas present right now?

and it's not going to cost you anything unlike all of the other Christmas presents that you bought. So this is a wonderful free way to do something really lovely for me. So thank you in advance. And now here's question one to help you review your year as the CEO of you. Number one, what have you transformed this year? So look at what actually matters, not what you did, but what you transformed.

Sophia Matveeva (04:20.92)

Did you set out a specific goal back in January this year? Did you reach that goal? If you weren't clear on your goal, you still did stuff, right? You went to work, you learned some things, you've been listening to this episode, you've been listening to this show, so I'm assuming you're probably the kind of person who wants to learn. So what did you learn? What did you achieve? Don't just look at what you did, but look at the results, because honestly, nobody cares about how many hours you worked.

or how many meetings you attended. Also, it doesn't matter how many feature ideas you had. What matters is impact. So for the founders listening, ask yourself, did you hide in product development when you really needed custom attraction? Because my dear smart people, I know it feels safer to keep tweaking features than to go out there and to face rejection from the market. But we're talking about impact. Hiding in feature development is not impact.

I remember one of the founders in a no code tools program that I taught back in May this year. This founder was planning to build a custom site and he had all these ideas for beautiful, wonderful features. But when we actually talked about what problem his business was solving and what he really needed at the start, we figured out that he could literally begin with a simple site on Wix. Yeah, this is not technologically innovative.

But it is a great place to start. So he created a very simple site with NoCo tools and then he started making money with his company. And this showed that there was real market interest in what he was doing. And you know, this website, this landing page that he created, it's not ideal. It's not super scalable. It is not what he should be doing in the long term, but he is gaining traction and he's getting revenue. This means that he can either use that revenue to build a better scalable product or he can use it as evidence of future success when fundraising. Let's apply this question for corporate innovators. My dear smart people, are you busy with initiatives or are actually driving real change? Because there is a difference between running innovation workshops and actually transforming how your company operates. And when you're looking at this, I know it can be kind of hard to work out whether the initiatives that you're doing are having

Sophia Matveeva (06:42.868)

any real impact. So I would say to you, don't worry so much about revenue from innovation projects that you started this year, because in corporate terms, you if you're working in a really large corporate and you started making a tiny amount of revenue, your corporate overlords are not going to be impressed, even if your early innovation is making some revenue. So large revenues, the kind of revenues that corporates are interested in, they are a lagging indicator.

They're a lagging indicator. So first you have to invent something new, you have to tell the market about it, and then you make the big money. And I know that this annoys the CFO, but it is the truth. So instead, look at the actions and the things that you tried and the level of staff engagement. So how are people responding, even in a small way? So I have an episode with a former head of innovation at PayPal and he has some good ideas on this topic. It's only a few episodes ago. So if you work in a big corporate, go back and listen to that one. And for the investors among us, are you spending your time analyzing deals that everybody else is looking at? Or are you building relationships that get you the deals that nobody else sees? This is how you can track whether you are having real impact because the best opportunities for the investors, they rarely come through pitch competitions. So here's question number two to help you review your year.

as the CEO of your career. Question number two is, have you used AI to solve real problems? AI has been impossible to ignore in 2024. I know you know this. And again, as you probably know, you're not competing with AI, you're competing with people who know how to use AI. And right now, I see this very binary behavior about AI. So there are some people who completely ignore AI.

And then there are people who are obsessing over every tool and are basically trying to stick AI everywhere, even where it doesn't belong. And neither approach is great because what matters is solving real problems. So for example, using AI to create a prototype and test your idea quickly, that's a great use case. Or using AI to help you create thought leadership content to attract deals and clients. Now these are good use cases and I've done both.

Sophia Matveeva (09:09.974)

And in both examples, you have a business aim and then you use AI to help you achieve that business aim quickly and cheaply. You don't actually start with, yes, today is Wednesday and I'm going to use AI. Don't do that. My question to you is, have you used AI this year to solve real business problems? What business problems did you solve? What did you learn from doing that?

And given how much generative AI is changing the business landscape right now, this one is really worth reflecting on and it will help you set up for the year ahead. And now question number three, question number three to help you review your year as the CEO of your career. Here it is. Have you shifted the power dynamic in your favor this year?

One of the VCs I interviewed on this show said, venture capital is 90 % saying no and 10 % begging. Isn't that interesting? I think that was an episode with Chuck Warner and it was one of the early ones. And this is an insight into shifting power dynamics because whether you're a founder raising money or an investor looking for deals or you just want to get a great job and you want to get great clients maybe, then you need to be very aware of power dynamics and you need to make them work for you. So think about this. Who has the power when you are filling in a job application on LinkedIn? So when you are filling in a job application, you're applying for a job, who has the power? Well, usually it's not you. Usually it's the employer. Now let's think about who has the power when a headhunter reaches out to you with an opportunity.

Well, then the power dynamic shifts in your favor. Yes, it's not absolutely yours, but it's definitely in your favor. So think about this. The vibe you want to have is, I'm fabulous and I am going places. If you want to be part of that journey, you'd better offer me something truly irresistible. And that vibe doesn't happen by accident. It takes work. So I have created this by becoming the most recognized thought leader

Sophia Matveeva (11:30.464)

on non-technical innovators. I have done this by creating this free podcast for you for four years, by writing for Forbes and for the Harvard Business Review, and by creating my excellent LinkedIn newsletter. And all of this has been free work, high quality free work, four years. But I wouldn't be sitting in a fabulous apartment by the beach in December and looking forward to bringing my family over

for a sunny Christmas vacation if I had not made this investment. So what have you done in 2024 to make opportunities come to you? What have you done to shift the power dynamic in your favor and to become a recognized expert in your field? And if you're really new to doing this, then don't look at whether opportunities have come to you yet because...

Being seen as a thought leader is a long game, it takes time, but you only get there if you take consistent action over time. So look at what you did to become known as the leading expert in your field because that shifts the power dynamic in your favor. And if you haven't done anything, be honest with yourself because next week we're going to plan what to do next year. And now here is my last question in this framework for you.

Who was on your team this year? Ask yourself this question, whether you have an official team working for you or not. Because this question is about the people who have helped you move towards your aims. And yes, I have a team at Tech for Nantechies, people I actually pay to work with me. But here are some other people that I count as being on my team. My therapist, my coach, and yes, I have both.

because it takes a lot of mental strength to build a successful global business. Also my cleaner, three of my closest girlfriends whom I really lean on for advice and support, and also my life partner, otherwise known as my boyfriend. All of you have some version of this, which means that we all have our own teams. So how has your team evolved this year? What did you learn from this evolution? Did somebody come into your team?

Sophia Matveeva (13:51.086)

Did somebody leave your team? Was somebody truly exceptional in your team? Did somebody let you down a bit? What gaps do you have in your team right now? So once you've answered the four questions in this framework, you'll be ready to work on a smart strategic plan for 2025. And that's what we're going to do in the next episode next week. So let's just have a quick recap of the four questions in our assessment framework. So number one.

What have you transformed this year? Number two, have you used AI to solve real problems? Number three, have you shifted the power dynamic in your favor this year? And number four, who was in your team in 2024? And number five, have you left this podcast a rating and a review? I think this question should go into the framework, don't you?

because if you're learning from my work in this show, then I would love it if you could help me as well. And you could really help me by leaving this show a rating and a review wherever you get your podcasts. Next week, I'll be back with an episode on how to use the insights from this episode to plan a fabulous 2025. And on that note, enjoy the holidays and thank you so much for being...

a wonderful part of my 2024. I really, really loved the time that we spent together and I love getting to know you when you reach out and when you leave reviews. So thank you so much. Enjoy the holidays and I'll speak to you next week. Ciao.