“Great CEOs Are Lazy”: Why the Best SMB Leaders Do Less—But Achieve More

You’ve likely heard many times that CEOs should be spending more time working *on* their business than working *in* their business. While this idea makes good sense, just how realistic is it for a small business CEO, especially a new one? While we’d otherwise like to be spending our time mostly on strategy, culture, and capital allocation, being sucked into the day-to-day whirlwind feels like an inevitable part of small business leadership – or is it? My guest today, Dr. Jim Schleckser, is the author of a book entitled ⁠"Great CEOs Are Lazy"⁠, and is also the founder of The CEO Project, where he and his team work with hundreds of CEOs leading high growth companies. I think you’ll find that while Jim acknowledges that working *in* the business is an inevitable and acceptable part of a CEO’s role at times, you’ll also likely notice that Jim focuses a lot on leverage: That is, ways in which CEOs can generate the highest level of output through the fewest inputs, through things like purposeful hiring, delegation, and explicit rules around where to spend their time... and, importantly, where not to. https://mineolasearchpartners.com/2026/03/19/great-ceos-are-lazy-why-the-best-smb-leaders-do-less-but-achieve-more/