Blog #23: The 15 Min CEO Hack
The 15-Minute CEO Hack: Making Engagement Work in Reality
I do something that most IBP/S&OP facilitators would consider cheating.
Before every Management Business Review, I try to book 15 minutes with the CEO. Not to review the deck - to arm them with just enough ammunition to look informed.
Here's something everyone knows but nobody says: the CEO likely won't read the 30-page pre-read. They just won't. You can complain about it, or you can work with reality.
I choose reality.
The Truism
CEOs are busy. Your IBP pre-read - no matter how well-crafted - is competing with board meetings, investor calls, customer crises, and a hundred other priorities.
So they show up unprepared. They ask surface-level questions, or worse, they ask an accidentally destructive one. Then when they realise the awkwardness of their question, they're suddenly busy checking their phone. Everyone else reads the signal: This doesn't really matter.
And your IBP meeting becomes theatre.
You can spend energy being frustrated about this, or you can spend 15 minutes fixing it.
The 15-Minute Briefing
Here's what I say in that pre-meeting with just me and the CEO:
"Boss, here are the three things you need to know going into today's meeting:"
What's on track - The one or two wins worth acknowledging
What's not on track - The issue that needs their attention (and who owns it)
The loaded question - The one thing they should ask that will make everyone sit up
That's it. Three things. Fifteen minutes, tops.
I've done the work as facilitator. I know what's solid and what's sketchy. I know who prepared and who's winging it. I know where the real decisions need to happen.
And now the CEO knows it too.
This Works
Here's what happens when the CEO asks that loaded question you gave them:
Everyone in the room suddenly realises the CEO is paying attention. Not just present - actually engaged.
It’s a truism that ‘what interests the CEO, fascinates everyone else’.
The CEO looks informed. You look good for running a tight process. And the meeting matters because the most important person in the room is treating it like it matters.
The Narcissist Factor
Let's be honest: Most CEOs are narcissists. They didn't get to the top by being wallflowers. They hate looking unprepared in front of their team.
They won't read 30 pages to avoid that. But they will invest 15 minutes, especially if its where you help them help themselves.
That's not cynicism - that's understanding human nature and working with it.
The Bottom Line
Stop waiting for your CEO to magically become more engaged with IBP. Stop being frustrated that they won't read the pre-read.
Make them look good instead. You'll get far more benefit from that than from hoping they read the pack.
Fifteen minutes. Three things they need to know. One loaded question.
It's not cheating. It's understanding how senior executives actually work and designing your process around reality instead of how you wish things were.
Before your next Management Business Review, book 15 minutes with your CEO. Give them what's on track, what's not, and one question to ask that will matter.
Then watch what happens.
How does your CEO show up to IBP meetings? And what would 15 minutes of your time be worth if it changed that?
Want to discuss how to make CEO engagement work in your IBP process? Find me at www.planninglab.co.nz
#IBP #S&OP #BusinessPlanning #Leadership #CEOEngagement