S#&% Eating Grin

A good CEO friend used to tell me that no matter what is happening in your company, "wear a s#$& eating grin."  I’d rather put it as putting on the cowl of leadership and stalwartness on every day.  Startups are a roller coaster ride and if you as CEO are having a bad day; that really does rub off on your team.  You could simply have a headache or there could really be something going on in the business that you don’t like.  It doesn’t matter.  Your attitude and persona positively (or negatively impacts) your company.  I am not advocating that you walk the halls like some crazed cheerleader (perhaps the best example ever from Steve Ballmer).  Consistently reporting operating results to the company (high-level goals, sales wins, etc), regular company meetings, and generally being available and open to feedback/questions are simple things that you can do to make sure that everyone knows that the ship is moving in the right direction.