Reviewing my notes on The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success, I spotted a few patterns. Most of the CEOs displayed the following traits:

• Daily operations – These CEOs hired strong lieutenants who managed day-to-day operations. This time-management hack allowed them to focus on whatever the most pressing issue was at any given time and strategic things like capital allocation. Finding the right number two took years in some cases, but when it happened, it freed these CEOs from the weeds of the business and gave them more control of their time.  
• Frugal – There’s an old saying: “If you watch the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.” All these CEOs took this to heart and watched their costs. They were happy to spend, but only when the return was clear. They avoided unnecessary layers of people and the associated costs. Most avoided expensive class A offices, opting for modest, unassuming offices instead. Tom Murphy of Capital Cities Broadcasting used frugality as a defense to his company’s inconsistent ad revenue. He recognized that he couldn’t control revenue but he could control his costs.
• Independent thinking – These CEOs didn’t believe in mimicking others. They didn’t follow their peers or conventional thinking. Instead, they spent time doing their own thinking to arrive at rational and pragmatic decisions. These decisions were often the opposite of what peers were doing and led to returns that exceeded those of their peers.
• Free cash flow – Free cash flow is a recurring focus among these CEOs. They didn’t pay attention to reported profits (i.e., net income); rather, they wanted to know how much cash the business generated that they could allocate. The distinction between free cash flow and net income is an important one. Many entrepreneurs don’t understand that difference, and it shows in their decision-making.

These CEOs ran large public companies, but these are traits that founders of almost any stage company can embrace and benefit from.