Which CEO Archetype Are You?
...and how to lead through risk, not around it.
Hi fam,
When I became the CEO of Olympia, I thought "risk management" was something big companies did to appease compliance teams. I was too focused on building a business. Risk felt like a luxury we couldn’t afford to slow down for.
I was wrong.
Risk is everywhere. In every new hire. Every funding round. Every delay, every pivot, every email that gets sent—or doesn’t. And as a first-time CEO, whether you name it or not, you are constantly managing risk. Or being managed by it.
I recently read a McKinsey article on Chief Risk Officer (CRO) archetypes—and it struck me how much it applies not just to CROs, but to us, CEOs. Especially the first-timers, the ones still building our playbooks while the game is already underway.
In this newsletter edition, I describe how CRO archetypes show up in us as CEOs—and how you can use this framework to lead through uncertainty with clarity and strength.
🧭 What Are CEO Risk Archetypes?
The original McKinsey article outlines three CRO archetypes: the Architect, the Protector, and the Business Accelerator. These roles are designed for large organizations with established risk structures. But in early-stage companies, there is no CRO—you are it. As a first-time, you're often navigating risk instinctively, without a formal playbook. So I’ve adapted these archetypes and added one more—the Partner—to reflect the real leadership behaviors I see in the startup trenches. These versions are built for our world: high-speed, high-stakes, and often high-emotion.
Each archetype reveals how we instinctively handle risk—whether we build systems, trust our gut, question the status quo, or lean into collective wisdom.
Risk isn’t the enemy—it’s the terrain. The sooner you learn to lead across it, the stronger you become.
Knowing your risk leadership style can help you:
Identify your blind spots
Balance your team with complementary strengths
And evolve into the kind of CEO your company needs in each stage of growth
So which one are you right now?
🧱 The Architect CEO
You design systems that preempt chaos. You're the one with dashboards, risk matrices, and a color-coded Notion board for every contingency.
Your superpower: Prevention. You avoid crises before they happen.
Watch out for: Slowing innovation with too much structure too early.
Try this: Build just-in-time systems. Don’t overdesign. Use light-touch rituals—like a monthly risk scan—with your leadership team.
🔥 The Responder CEO
You act fast. You’re great in a crisis, decisive under pressure, energized by chaos.
Your superpower: Agility. You keep the company alive.
Watch out for: Burnout. Building a culture of reaction instead of strategy.
Try this: Schedule quarterly “pre-mortems” for your big bets. Ask: What could go wrong? Solve before the fire.
🚀 The Challenger CEO
You’re bold, visionary, and willing to take big swings. You question conventional wisdom.
Your superpower: Courage. You see possibilities others don’t.
Watch out for: Betting too big, too fast—without a parachute.
Try this: Pair with a pragmatic operator (COO or finance lead). Let them challenge you back.
🤝 The Partner CEO
You build alignment. You co-own risk with your team, creating psychological safety around uncertainty.
Your superpower: Trust. You build a resilient culture.
Watch out for: Decision fatigue from over-collaboration.
Try this: Define clear decision rights. Not everything needs consensus. Choose when you’re facilitating vs. deciding.
🧭 Why It Matters
Most first-time CEOs I know fall into one archetype instinctively. But the best ones? They grow into the others over time. They build range.
They learn to architect when it’s time to scale. To respond in a true crisis. To challenge when the company’s getting stagnant. To partner when trust needs healing.
You don’t have to be all of them at once. But know which one you are now, and which one your company needs next.
The First-Time CEO Podcast Update
One of the best Responder CEOs I know is Oleg Tarasiuk, whom I interviewed in Episode 7 of The First-Time CEO podcast. He’s building and scaling CodeGeeks in the middle of the war in Ukraine—and doing it with remarkable clarity and speed. In the episode, we talk about how he navigates constant uncertainty, what lessons and challenges he’s faced, and how he grew his team from just five to fifty people during the first year of the war. Watch it on YouTube:
You can also tune in to this epidose on:
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🎧 Catch up on Season 1 of The First-Time CEO podcast—real stories from founders navigating risk, uncertainty, and growth in real time. 👉 Listen to Season 1 now and subscribe so you’re first to hear what’s coming next:
YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS
Season 2 launches this July with even more raw, honest conversations you won’t want to miss.
🛠️ Practical Moves for You This Week:
Choose a risk ritual: Try a monthly “pre-mortem” or a founder-circle risk scan.
Write a one-page Risk Charter: How do you want your company to handle uncertainty?
Ask your leadership team: “What risk are we ignoring right now because it’s uncomfortable to name?”
✨ #GoldenFindings
Resources worth bookmarking if you're building something for the first time:
🧠 Seven Surprises for New CEOs – A timeless Harvard Business Review piece that outlines the hidden paradoxes and mindset shifts every new CEO encounters. From “You’re not the boss of everything” to “You can’t really trust your calendar,” this is a sobering and empowering read for any new leader.
🔥 The First-Time Founder’s Guide to Learning Everything the Hard Way – Raw and real. Steve El‑Hage shares what it really felt like to build a company while battling burnout, doubt, and product pivots. Read this if you're tired of founder highlight reels and want the truth.
🎯 Which Chief Risk Officer Archetype Are You? – This McKinsey article might be about CROs, but it maps perfectly to startup CEOs who manage risk instinctively. We reframed it earlier in this issue—worth reading the original to reflect on how you handle pressure and uncertainty.
#CEOCheck:
Which CEO archetype feels most like you—and which one are you growing into next?
Hit reply and share it with me, I read them all!
With you in the mess,
Victoria
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