You must take a long-term view and may not see results for months or years.

Change, of course, presents a whole new array of challenges to new CEOs, no matter how big or small the business they head might be. Change is ponderous and difficult to implement, and tangible results are often slow to materialize, Saporito notes. Major successes can be few and far between. As a result, heading up a business requires that you take a long-term view of things.

However, taking the long-term view often means that the results of your decisions will not have tangible implications for months or even years to come. As a result, as a new business owner you might wonder if you are having any impact at all. "New CEOs must learn that impact comes by trusting others and making effective use of an organization's talent and assets," Saporito says. "That requires a major effort."

Change at that level is more incremental than transformational, and new CEOs and business owners can be discouraged when their attempts at change do not quickly produce the desired results. Often they find they must compromise their original positions or make even more radical changes in order to achieve success.

For the head of any business organization, sustaining change can be just as challenging as initiating it. Don't be lulled into complacency by short-term success, Saporito warns. That does not necessarily signal the same will occur over the long term. Too many business owners and CEOs underestimate the inherent inertia that exists within an organization.

Changes made but not sustained can have a negative effect on a company, he says. Therefore, it is crucial that the top person in the organization take responsibility--or designate someone else to be explicitly responsible--for sustaining any changes that are enacted.

If your business venture is one that involves employees, you might expect to be able to rely on them as a conduit of useful information. That can be a mistake. Business owners and even senior executives often do not hear bad news because employees are reluctant to tell them, Saporito advises. "The more senior your position, the greater your need for feedback, and the less likely it is that you will receive candid feedback on any issue," he says. "This is known as the leadership paradox. The CEO must be ever mindful of this when making decisions."
If you head up a business that includes other people, one of your major responsibilities is the accurate assessment and deployment of your organization's talent.

"By accurately assessing talent and appropriately deploying it, new CEOs can obtain greater control over the variables leading to organizational success," Saporito says. "Failure to make the right personnel changes in a timely manner can perpetuate organizational damage."
New bosses may also fail to recognize and address the subtleties of the natural competition that often exists between functional areas, especially those outside their own experience and expertise. Failure to understand such territorialism can cause them to address conflict too slowly, too precipitously or not at all.