GA 649 | Accountability Starts in the Mirror with Michael Caito

Most organizations have a strategy. Far fewer can actually execute one. Michael Caito built and sold a food delivery business decades before DoorDash existed, then spent years helping other companies close the gap between where leaders want to go and where they actually end up. His diagnosis is consistent: the gap is almost always an accountability problem, and accountability is almost always the leader’s problem first. The conversation with Ron covers what CEOs truly own, how to know whether you have a strategy issue or an execution issue, and why the cadence of your team meetings matters more than most leaders want to admit.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How focusing on what is vital applies the Pareto principle to business (2:24)
• Why the strategy-execution gap exists in most organizations (9:29)
• What five things a CEO truly owns in any business (10:55)
• When to make a people change and how to know you have waited too long (13:34)
• How an operating rhythm makes performance visible across the organization (15:34)
• Why monthly goal reviews beat quarterly check-ins for compounding results (17:28)
• The difference between leading indicators and result-based measurements (20:00)
• How to tell whether you have a strategy problem or an execution problem (22:44)
• What a struggling leader should do first before choosing a system or hiring a coach (26:39)

“Performance is visible and the person that’s not performing or hitting their goals, they’re not gonna be comfortable working there.” – Michael Caito

Keep Learning

If Michael’s point about building a real management cadence around goal-setting and performance visibility resonated, the School of Leadership offers structured ways to develop exactly those skills across your organization.
Learn More About School of Leadership at gembaacademy.com/leadership

Podcast Resources

• Michael on LinkedIn
• Michael’s Website

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What Do You Think?

When was the last time your team reviewed goals together in a structured monthly meeting, and what got in the way of making that a non-negotiable rhythm?

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