When building a leadership team, many CEOs instinctively look for people who think like them. It feels comfortable. Decisions get made faster. Disagreements are rare. But according to Chris Scharman, CEO at Avtech Capital, this comfort comes at a cost.
In a recent episode of Wisdom From Wizards, brought to you by Caribou Strategic, helping tech scaleups stand out and succeed, Chris shared why he’d rather surround himself with people who challenge him.
“It’s my job as a leader — and any leader’s job — not to be the smartest person in the room,” Chris explained. “It’s your job to create a room where the smartest ideas win. If everyone thinks alike, you’re going to have blind spots, and you’ll miss out on great ideas.”
For Chris, constructive tension is not just about diverse perspectives — it’s about turning good ideas into great ones. Healthy debate sharpens thinking, exposes risks early, and surfaces opportunities that consensus thinking would miss.
But there’s a non-negotiable rule in his playbook: once a decision is made, everyone must commit.
“Nobody should say yes in the meeting just to go along, and then quietly undermine the decision afterward,” Chris noted. “That’s not okay. We can challenge each other fiercely in discussion, but when we decide, we move forward together.”
For CEOs of tech scaleups, this is a powerful reminder: building a high-performance team means hiring for challenge, not comfort — and cultivating a culture where debate is welcomed, but unity is expected after the call is made.
If you’re a CEO who refuses to plateau, let’s talk.