About 5 years back, I was having a conversation with Hiten Varia – who was my boss for way too many years and then on my Board for a different company Riverside Insights … and when I asked him:

Me: “Hiten, let’s get past what the investors want. That is table stakes. How do I judge that I have created sufficient internal value for my own team?”

Hiten: “Well, I know you do not care about money personally. But have you thought about creating 25 millionaires?”

Me: “You mean, build the company and spread the wealth so as to create….?”

Hiten: “Yes”

That is a conversation that changed a lot of my outlook towards self-goals as a CEO.

I know he is happy – at least, in paper money – where I finished out that job.

Later, I was thinking – what might be another good metric as a great organizational leader?

The one I could come up with – after a lot of thought – was how many of my direct reports got a job as a CEO as the next job? That would prove I was really instrumental in creating great leaders.

To be clear, I am not saying they eventually became a CEO. I am talking about they left the company to be a CEO.

Also, I am not counting folks who start their own companies. Taking no credit away from them… just saying somebody else did not select them to be the CEO.

In my living memory, Matt Tebbe is my first (and so far only) mark of success there. (Somebody, please tell me I am missing somebody else)

Here is the news article. https://cartus.com/en/about-us/press-room/cartus-appoints-matthew-tebbe-as-president-and-chief-executive-officer/

Funny story… Many moons back, I had written a post in Linkedin on effective ways to network. That got Matt to start networking with me purposefully (he and I had worked before and till then, the only networking we had after I left the company was my birthday call)s. That, much later, led to he being interviewed for an opportunity in our company and eventually he became my direct report.

And now a CEO, himself.

Would love you to join me in congratulating Matthew Tebbe on this great opportunity, recognizing the power of networking and as undeserving as I might be, being in the right place and right time to say #1 done in my list of CEOs I have created.