What Becoming a CEO Taught Me About Management
About the Author
Ashley Fina is the Co-CEO of Oxygen and former CEO of Michael C. Fina Recognition. She helps founders, executives, and high-growth companies build stronger teams through practical, people-first management training. Ashley has coached and advised more than 35 companies across industries and serves on multiple boards focused on business leadership and human capital development. Follow her on LinkedIn @AshleyFina.
What Becoming a CEO Taught Me About Management
When I was 25 years old, I became CEO.
It was 2009. The economy was collapsing. We had just lost 30% of our revenue. My uncle had passed away unexpectedly. And suddenly, I was named CEO and president of my family’s business.
To be honest, I didn’t think it was real.
I had grown up in the business. I’d worked in every department and I understood how the company operated. What I didn’t understand yet was how heavy leadership feels when people are looking to you for clarity in the middle of uncertainty.
What the Promotion Doesn’t Prepare You For
Like most leaders, I learned how to manage through trial and error.
There was no formal training on how to lead a team. How to give feedback when stakes are high, or make decisions with incomplete information. Or how to manage your own self doubt while all the while projecting confidence. You just figured it out as you went.
Years later, after coaching CEOs and working closely with management teams, I realized how universal this experience is. We promote high-performing people into leadership roles and assume they’ll “grow into” the human side of the job.
Some do. Many struggle quietly.
Not because they lack talent, but because we’ve never treated people management as a skill set worthy of real development.
Here are three of the biggest lessons I learned about management through my career.
1.The Importance of Manager Readiness
What I didn’t have language for then but understand clearly now is that leadership requires readiness. Not motivation. Not intelligence. Not good intentions. Readiness.
Readiness is the capacity to lead, decide, and perform under pressure, when information is incomplete and people are looking to you for clarity. Most organizations promote based on performance and hope readiness follows. Sometimes it does. Often, it doesn’t and the cost shows up quietly in burnout, confusion, and uneven execution.
In a slower, more stable environment, organizations could afford to let managers grow into readiness over time. Today, that margin is gone. AI is accelerating decision cycles, compressing feedback loops, and increasing the volume of change managers are expected to absorb and translate for their teams. When managers aren’t ready, the system doesn’t just slow down, it destabilizes. Teams feel it first: uncertainty lingers, norms fracture, and trust erodes. And that’s when culture stops being something you “build” and starts being something you’re constantly repairing.
2. Culture Is What You Tolerate (Especially Under Pressure).
One of the clearest lessons I learned early as a CEO is that culture isn’t defined by values decks or slogans.
Culture shows up in behavior, especially when things are hard and when decisions are moving faster than ever.
In an AI-enabled environment, pressure doesn’t just come from people. It comes from speed, scale, and the constant pull to optimize. And that’s exactly when culture gets tested.
It’s revealed in:
how feedback is delivered when tools surface uncomfortable insights
what happens when a high performer undermines others, even as their output looks “efficient” on paper
whether managers avoid uncomfortable conversations or face them directly instead of hiding behind dashboards, data, or process
This is why culture and readiness aren’t abstract ideas. They’re observable. You can see them in how goals are set, how feedback is delivered, how decisions get made, and what behavior leaders tolerate when results are on the line. Under pressure, organizations don’t rise to their values. They default to what their leaders are actually prepared to do.
For example, you can say “respect” is a core value. But if leaders tolerate behavior that contradicts it (especially when performance metrics look good) the culture is already defined.
This is where management really lives: in moments that require judgment, courage, and emotional intelligence. None of which can be automated.
3. The Sacred Pause Is Where Better Leaders Are Made
Looking back, I wish I had known not to rush clarity.
So many leaders feel pressure to have answers immediately, especially when the pace of business rewards speed over reflection. But some of the best leadership decisions I’ve made came from doing the opposite: pausing.
Today, when I’m facing a meaningful decision, I deliberately pause and ask:
What are three alternatives I may not be considering?
Who can challenge my current thinking?
What perspective would make me uncomfortable, but better?
In a world optimized for speed, and increasingly shaped by AI, the ability to pause has become a leadership skill, not a luxury.
What This Means for CEOs Right Now
Organizations don’t rise to their values under pressure.
They default to what their leaders are prepared to do.
If you want resilient teams, consistent execution, and a healthy culture, readiness can’t be left to chance. It has to be built: deliberately, systemically, and before things get hard.
Start by asking a harder question than “Are my managers capable?”
Ask whether they’re actually ready.
Want to learn more about how to prepare your managers to lead? Learn more about our Management Training Essentials Program.