Leadership Is Guardianship
Written by Dr. Melik Peter Khoury
Why the Best CEOs Lead with Fierce Stewardship, Not Just Strategy.
Most CEOs treat their organizations like startups, assets, or personal brands. Very few treat them like their mother. And that’s precisely the problem.
When you treat an organization like a startup, it’s disposable; built to flip or fail fast. When you treat it like an asset, it becomes transactional, a line item to maximize. When you treat it like a trophy, it becomes all about ego, polish over purpose.
But when you treat your company like your mother, you protect it, serve it, and fight for its dignity, not because of what it gives you but because of what it means.
Stewardship Over Ownership
There’s a common refrain in executive circles: “Act like an owner.” It’s well-intentioned. But ownership can imply control, extraction, even disposal. Stewardship, on the other hand, is about care. Continuity. Legacy. It’s about leaving things better than you found them, even when nobody’s watching…
To continue reading, view the full post here
