I'll relay a quote from my mother -- "If you're feeling bad about this. Don't worry. It will only get worse! Hahahaha! (phone click)"
In all seriousness -- what you're running into is exactly what makes the job challenging. Here are a couple places to start, having been both in your shoes, and the shoes of those on the other end:
1. Executive 1:1s -- who are the other executives you work with outside of the CEO if any? Try to get 1:1s scheduled so you can get some more context about what you're walking into. Get a sense of what their needs are, which will give you a sense of what the broader organization's needs are. Remember, you're being hired to make the CEO's problems go away /without/ their asking you. Being able to integrate into their executive team is one of the best ways to prove you know what you're doing, and all it takes is some consistency, diligence, an open mind, and a desire to earnestly ask helpful questions.
2. Executive alignment meetings -- Is your CEO and executive team meeting regularly? If so, ask to join. If not, take the initiative to plan it -- ideally after you've aligned with the other executives beyond the CEO. Even if the CEO cannot make every (or even most) of their meetings, they'll greatly appreciate the initiative and it will build credibility. I know you mentioned they don't want to have these meetings, so it may be required to work indirectly through other executives first, based on who has the CEO's ear.
3. CEO 1:1 -- if you're the CTO, your CEO likely wants to have some degree of a regular 1 on 1 catchup, if at least to make sure you don't leave. You can figure out a cadence to make this work on said CEO's calendar -- whether it's once a week, biweekly, monthly, etc. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that you are able to align with the CEO and collect feedback from them about what areas you're doing well on and around what areas you can improve. If you can't get this scheduled, I don't think you're in a place where you're set up to succeed and I'd advise you to leave. If it's hard to get this scheduled, try pushing on the first two approaches first to get the rapport to get here.
Most importantly -- if you can't get any of these scheduled, you should really re-evaluate whether this is the right role and whether you shouldn't move. If you are the CTO and you cannot get some kind of regular time, no matter how infrequent, with the CEO and other executives, you are not really the CTO and you should consider leaving. Just my 2c.
In all seriousness -- what you're running into is exactly what makes the job challenging. Here are a couple places to start, having been both in your shoes, and the shoes of those on the other end:
1. Executive 1:1s -- who are the other executives you work with outside of the CEO if any? Try to get 1:1s scheduled so you can get some more context about what you're walking into. Get a sense of what their needs are, which will give you a sense of what the broader organization's needs are. Remember, you're being hired to make the CEO's problems go away /without/ their asking you. Being able to integrate into their executive team is one of the best ways to prove you know what you're doing, and all it takes is some consistency, diligence, an open mind, and a desire to earnestly ask helpful questions.
2. Executive alignment meetings -- Is your CEO and executive team meeting regularly? If so, ask to join. If not, take the initiative to plan it -- ideally after you've aligned with the other executives beyond the CEO. Even if the CEO cannot make every (or even most) of their meetings, they'll greatly appreciate the initiative and it will build credibility. I know you mentioned they don't want to have these meetings, so it may be required to work indirectly through other executives first, based on who has the CEO's ear.
3. CEO 1:1 -- if you're the CTO, your CEO likely wants to have some degree of a regular 1 on 1 catchup, if at least to make sure you don't leave. You can figure out a cadence to make this work on said CEO's calendar -- whether it's once a week, biweekly, monthly, etc. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that you are able to align with the CEO and collect feedback from them about what areas you're doing well on and around what areas you can improve. If you can't get this scheduled, I don't think you're in a place where you're set up to succeed and I'd advise you to leave. If it's hard to get this scheduled, try pushing on the first two approaches first to get the rapport to get here.
Most importantly -- if you can't get any of these scheduled, you should really re-evaluate whether this is the right role and whether you shouldn't move. If you are the CTO and you cannot get some kind of regular time, no matter how infrequent, with the CEO and other executives, you are not really the CTO and you should consider leaving. Just my 2c.