This week is for CEO and upper management folks only. Those of you in middle management, hang in there…we’ve got something just for you next week.

When you run a company, regardless if you’re a huge corporation with a board of directors or an entrepreneur with your office in the corner bedroom of your house, you are always dealing with issues and hurdles.

Okay, work with me…our primary job is overcoming hurdles with employees, customer issues and sometimes its operations. It can be any combination of the above or all of them at once. In fact, much of our time is spent removing hurdles related to the budget, expenditures, delivery of our product or service, the marketing people and the list goes on and on. The old expression is, “Sometimes when you are up to your eyeballs in alligators, it’s hard to remember that our initial objective was to drain the swamp!”

Here is your swift kick in the butt challenge: Change the title on your business card, your door, the company directory and the way you are introduced at an event to CHRO. Chief Hurdle Removal Officer. And really focus on your real job.

In your Running Shoe Monday Meeting, talk about what your job really is and what you bring to the table. Plus, have some fun. Work is a lot more fun when we make certain parts of it a game. Become the Chief Hurdle Removal Officer for your company and watch how the employees react. Watch how quickly conflicts, problems and issues are resolved. As the new spirit around the company begins to shift in a positive direction, bottle it, package it and ship it off to others that will benefit.

Next week, you middle management people who read through this anyway, will get an idea for middle management that will enhance the attitude generated by the CHRO.