The CEO - Game Plan - Part 1

Serving as a leader to achieve their visions for over 30 years has caused me to believe that an effective leadership team is the key to success and more than half the job done if done right! Ofcourse every team has a leader and the leader of the leadership team is the CEO! So what exactly is the job of the CEO?

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Managing Director (MD) or Chief Executive is the highest ranking in charge of an organization. The CEO reports to the board of directors whose main job is to hire and fire the CEO. A CEO's job is never done. It is 24/7 and it always comes with a ubiquitous, omnipresent and incessant sense of responsibility to the employees and their families, clients, owners, investors, bankers, local communities, you name it...the mantel of responsibility is never unyokedand cause physical distress to the point of pain to those not cut out for the role!

The key responsibilities of a CEO clear:

• Keep the mission and long-term vision, objectives and goals of the organization clear and visible; i.e set a vision, align resources and motivate action. The leaders's job is to hold, nurture, communicate and drive to achieve a vision.


• Manage and nurture relationships with outside stakeholders including board members, investors, partners, advisers, suppliers, community leaders, recruits, employee families, etc.


• Take care of organizationa assets and deploy them responsible in an effort to maximise their use to achieve the best possible ROI


• Find and develop opportunities for discontinuous growth and impact.


• Find out what is more important to do differently and make it happen

• Resolve important operating issues and crises

Overall the CEO has to do "everything which absolutely has to be done that no one else can possibly do".

With that clarity, one might think it is obvious what the CEO must spend time in the day-to-day Operating Role. But that clarity is far from achieved. Specifically is it the CEO's job

To PERFORM business functions? OR To DEVELOP LEADERS to perform business functions?

What are the Challenges the CEO faces when he/she Performs Business Functions, How does he/she choose between these two, How to choose a leader, Is a COO necessary, Whom does PeopleMatters report to?, How does Enterprise transformation occur thru Leadership Development are some of the view points I will write about in future posts.

Let's define the CEO Game plan as we read along...