So I work for a large bank in the United States. Me and my coworkers always joke that whenever something bad or inconvenient happens it’s the CEOs fault. Though it’s just a running joke it got me thinking, on a day to day basis what does a CEO actually do? I get the “Chief Executive Officer” nomenclature means they more than likely make executive decisions but what does that look like? Are they at their desk signing papers all day? Death by meeting?
Edit: Holy crap thanks for all the answers I feel like this sub always pulls through when I have a weird question. Thanks guys!
In: 1423
Death by meeting, PowerPoint, spreadsheets, decisions…. The list goes on, if they are any good at their job/put the time into it, that is.
Set the direction for the business, and then make sure that the relevant departments are aligned to that direction, so that everyone knows what’s needed from them, and that everyone has the resources needed to deliver what’s needed from them.
And a lot of managing outside stakeholders to procure the resources everyone needs.
If you have to make a decision which isn’t under your control, or which you need a higher level of approval of, you ask your boss. Your boss also tells you if you need to do something specific this week or whatnot. If they need to make a similar decision or get a similar task, they ask their boss. This continues up the chain until eventually it reaches the CEO. Depending on company structure they often don’t have a boss which means they are principally responsible for making company decisions.
The CEO is the highest ranking person that works at the company every day. The board of directors can fire the CEO, but the board usually meets only quarterly and its members usually have other jobs.
A CEO’s day to day will depend on the size of the corporation. Generally, they are responsible for hiring and managing all of the other executives. So they might hire the head of product development, head of sales, head of marketing, general counsel, chief financial officer, and more. It’s their job to attract good people into those roles, then motivate them to do a good job. All of those folks have different areas of expertise (sales, legal, accounting, engineering) so they need to listen to their expertise and then decide a plan for the company based on that.
For instance, the CFO can tell them how much money they have in the bank, and the CTO can tell them that investing an extra billion dollars in R&D can produce a product that will increase revenues by an estimated $100m/year after 3 years. The CEO needs to decide whether they can afford that, whether they believe those revenue projections, and whether the new product would be an overall positive direction for the company. When the company has a really bad year, they need to figure out what needs to change: do they need to fire and replace some of these executives, change company culture, cut some of their product line? All the decisions are ultimately either up to them, or up to people that they hire and trust to make those decisions.
What a CEO does can depend a lot on company size (10 or 10,000 employees) and structure (publicly traded or private). But it can generally be broken down into 3 big responsibilities: strategic-level planning, shareholder value protection/fundraising and public relations.
A CEO will generally be involved with or totally responsible for the direction a company goes…what markets they participate in, what they sell and how they sell it. The details of how to accomplish those decisions are informed by other C-suite people and implemented by lower-level managers. This is the strategic planning. A CEO will also be responsible for ensuring that these plans are financially possible and will bring profit to the shareholders. This can also involve raising money for the company through attracting investors. Lastly, the CEO will often be the face of the company. Did Steve Jobs come up with, design and manufacture the iPhone? Nope, but he was the one to introduce it to the world on stage.
In good corporate governance, the CEO isn’t an all-powerful dictator but instead serves at the pleasure of a Board of Directors who are chosen by (or are) shareholders. They act as a check on the CEO and can have the power to overrule, hire and fire the CEO. Often the CEO is a voting member of the board as well.
For big corporations that have shareholders, the CEO’s main job is to make sure the interests of the “owners” of the company is protected and their goal, realized.
That means coordinating with other C-level executives to make sure everything supports that goal.
From what I see in my CEO friends, they can structure their companies so they’re out playing all day with minimal meetings (this works if you’re also the owner). Or they can be in the trenches, always on the phone even during weekends.
They make decisions on which direction the company should go. Do we hire more people for area XYZ, or do a layoff this year? Do we give more people to engineering, or to HR, or a bit of both?
They are also the face of the company externally and internally; if you think of *one* person who works for that company, it’s usually them.
Okay to answer your question more bluntly.. they just talk.. communicate with people and make strategy… So talk and think..
Long story made short: The CEO is responsible for strategy, planning and partnerships.
If you are at the lowest rungs of a large system, the CEO has nothing to do with your day to day gripes other than how they fit into the bigger strategic plan.
A CEO’s job is to direct the company. Whatever that may be. Is there a new emerging technology like AI or additive manufacturing that has potential for the company? It’s the CEO’s job to say “let’s pursue it, I want to use it to do x. Person Y it is your job to develop this technology within our needs. What do you need to do that?” Person Y then says what they need and the CEO should do what they can to provide that.
Or if there’s a failing division. A CEO might be the one responsible for either turning it around by firing the leadership of that division, or the people in that division. OR it might be the CEO’s decision to shut that division down entirely and stop wasting resources on a division that’s not pulling it’s weight.
Basically a CEO doesn’t think day to day or even month to month. It’s the CEO’s job to plan the direction of the company year by year. Frequently they’re expected to maintain a rolling 5 year plan for the company. This is where we want the company to be in 5 years. Maybe we want automation to replace 1/2 our laborers. Maybe we want AI to replace 1/2 our animators or coders. Then monitor progress. If anything isn’t going to plan then it’s their job to intervene and steer it back in the right direction. At the CEO level that typically means resource reallocation, rather than any actual work. For you that might mean the budget for your team doubles, so you’ll get new coworkers. Or it might mean people won’t be replaced after they leave since they bought you these ai tools to help, so you can pick up the slack easier.
Latest Answers