9. Know Your Business Thoroughly – Or Rely On Others

"If you don’t intuitively know that people are BS-ing you, or you can't call them out on it, you have to know who is really sharp about certain categories," Chesonis said.

Executives within a solution provider practice must know how to trust their teams, but a leader can't have a team that’s all subject-matter experts who will figure everything out, he said.

Chesonis is currently running Sweetwater Energy, a company that relies on biomass conversion to create biochemicals. "I got an F in organic chemistry," Chesonis said. "I was depending on the team around me. But I really believe if you don’t know your business that well, spend the time to figure it out."