5y
This was a completely fair review for that period of time in our company.
I was the CEO at the time. Some parts of what it takes to be a good leader (or even a good manager) I'm not good at. For example, I have bad habits of avoiding conflict, including normal, necessary, respectful disagreement that is part of healthy communication. At the time, I was also trying to figure out a vision for the company. We had multiple products and customers and revenue, but nobody in the company felt they were part of a single, bigger company with a purpose they could explain.
Fast forward to today, a lot has changed. The biggest change was getting a CEO who is a true leader with a clear vision and great interpersonal skills. Everyone in the company is happier and more excited for the future, including me. We also just launched the first project ever in the company where the entire team was involved with the project, understands the project, understands the customers, understands their role in our success and our customers' success, and believes in what we're doing. If that last sentence sounds like it should be a given for any company, well, maybe it should be but it certainly isn't a given for a lot of companies. Even companies doing other things right can be getting some of those organizational fundamentals wrong.
In short, despite having a great group of people, there was lacking leadership and poor communication. I believe these problems are truly and organizationally fixed and that we'll remain a great company to work for for a long time to come. That's what I always wanted for this company, I just wasn't able to build that type of organization as CEO. Now, as the CTO with no direct reports, I get to focus on technical things that are the real value I have to contribute to the company.
