LeadCEO: CEO Leadership

It is necessary for any CEO to lead from the front as his subordinates are liable to follow his decisions. Hence the most important quality that he should have is that he should be a great leader.

The CEO in any organization has to lead from the front. His managers depend on him for making the important decisions to accomplish the objectives of the organization. Let us have a look at what type of leadership qualities should the CEO have.

The CEO, as a leader should firstly have value based goals in mind. The goals should be measureable (and not ambiguous or vague) so that the management is clear about the objectives. This leads to a continuous sense of direction to the employees who can compare the actual results with the expected results and then make changes accordingly.

One of the most important qualities that a CEO should have is a sense of mission. He should be clear and precise about his mission and what he expects from his subordinates. The CEO should have the courage to stand up to and face any situation. He should not lose his focus and persistently stay on the course and come up with a viable solution for the difficulty.

The CEO should also be action oriented. This means that he should be forward thinking and entrepreneurial. He should instill an attitude of “I can do it” in himself and his employees. He should make the subordinates realize that there is a direct connection between the organization’s progress and the employee’s performance.

A CEO should be future oriented. He should ideally foresee the future and he should mold the organization in that direction. As a leader, he should have a ‘never give up attitude’. He should have the attitude of learning from his mistakes and he should display a level of commitment. The CEO should be a like a father figure to his subordinates and at the same time he should listen to their suggestions and woes.

Good listening skills is what today’s CEO requires. He should be open to suggestions and advise but in the end he should make the final decision. He should encourage his subordinates to discuss with him any new ideas that come to their minds. He should be willing to take calculated risks as a leader and he should not be afraid of success. He should always portray a commitment to excellence and see to it that products and services of the company comply with quality performance.

The CEO is expected to be a big picture thinker and he should consider all outcomes and options to achieve the company’s goals. He should take full advantage of his strengths and work on his weaknesses. He should be highly committed and motivate the others regularly. He should be a quick problem solver and this could include intervening in case of quarrels in the organization as well as any emergency faced by the organization.

The CEO should also be an effective communicator. He should devise a communication channel that is less likely to change the message as it goes down the hierarchy. Studies show that several organizations have not been able to succeed just because they didn’t have a proper communication channel.

The CEO should not work behind closed doors. He should be easily accessible to his subordinates as he is the most important ambassador of his organization. He should even take regular feedback from his subordinates, suppliers and customers so that he can explore avenues of improvement, if required.

As an able leader, the CEO should be an out and out team man. He should have the right participative skills to lead his team. He should encourage unity in his team and all members should realize that the collective contribution will lead to the success of the organization. The CEO has the sole rights to hire and fire his subordinates. One of the other important things expected from the CEO include prioritizing the tasks at hand. This means accomplishing the most important tasks first and doing the less important tasks afterwards.

It is the love of leadership that makes a CEO self compliant. He knows exactly what he is doing and he has the ability to make his subordinates follow him. And this can only happen when his subordinates have faith in him. The CEO should have self motivation skills, he can’t depend in someone else for his motivation. In fact, he has to motivate others. The CEO should also evaluate his performance from time to time. This way he knows exactly where he stands.

A good CEO will always get respect instead of demanding for respect. He can get this respect only if the subordinates are with him and they like him as their leader. They understand that credibility and trust are the strong foundations of leadership. Last but not the least, the CEO will have a serious commitment for self learning and he will ensure that he passes on the commitment principles to his subordinates as well.

In any organization the CEO is expected to lead from the front. He is the most responsible authority for the overall performance of the organization. As a leader he needs to instill the same values in his immediate managers. The CEO is the daily driver and founder of the organization’s corporate culture. However organizations today expect the CEO to follow a particular leadership style as per the culture and requirements. Here we have a look at the different CEO leadership styles and what does each style encompass.

Transformational

A transformational CEO is a leader who believes in continuously inspiring his team to change and improve. He is the aggressive type of CEOs who has a long vision and he will stop at nothing to get there. The CEO is always ready for any change that can do good for the organization. A good example is the Virgin Atlantic CEO, Sir Richard Branson, whose innovative leadership style inspired the people within his organization to grow and innovate. The other good example of a transformational CEO is Sam Waltom from Walmart. Today Walmart is the largest retail chain in the world and it is growing from strength to strength.

Participative

In this case the CEO believes in total team work and hence he also involves his team members in the decision making process. Hence he ensures that all members participate in the discussion before he makes the final decision. This style of CEO leadership concentrates on making decisions in a joint fashion. Here the best examples would be of Facebook and Google. For several years since their inception, these companies have formed a management group comprising of 3 or 4 individuals who equally share the decision making responsibility.

Situational

Most of the CEOs have adopted the situational leadership style. In this case the CEO adapts to the changing situation and then makes decisions accordingly. The CEO is expected to continually adjust to the new situation and constraints. This type of leadership has a lasting effect on the other managers.

Service-Oriented

Here the CEO gives utmost priority to the needs and aspirations of his subordinates.  The CEO involves his team in most of the decision making processes and the CEO relies strongly on their ideals and values. This style is approached by many CEOs today as they feel the human resources are the most important component of any organization.

Charismatic

As the name suggests, a charismatic CEO relies on his personal charm to lead his team. By adopting this approach the CEO creates a feeling within the organization that the results of the organization are directly proportional to the presence of a charismatic leader in the organization. However this type of leadership can be a double edged sword as everyone has to be highly dependent on the CEO.

In this case the CEO shows his charisma by instilling his own rituals and polities that are related to his personal beliefs. The drawback of the charismatic style is that this policy can lead to the company becoming rigid.

The senior managers look upon the CEO of the company as their leader who will give a direction to their goals. The whole company, right from top to bottom depends on the CEO for making decisions. However the CEO can’t do it alone. He needs to effectively communicate with his immediate managers of the department and even take their advice and suggestions before coming to a viable decision.

Leadship CEO refers to the leadership tasks and qualities that the CEO has to fulfill to the best of his abilities after his appointment. The CEO should have a sound temperament at all times as he understands that his positive or negative attitude is going to have a direct impact on the company’s performance. Let us have a look at some of the features of leadship CEO.

Motivate the employees – The most important aspect of leadship CEO is that he should be able to motivate his immediate managers in a positive way. He should find out newer and newer ways to motivate his managers so that they can pass on the same motives to their juniors throughout the organization. It is this motivation that will help the company in narrowing the gap between actual results and expected results.

Stay abreast of technology – As a leader, the CEO should stay abreast of the technology system, especially the one that can be used by his company. For example, majority of the businesses are going online as that is where the major market share lies. Hence he should learn the new technologies such as virtual learning and teleconferencing so that he can effectively use them as required. He should also encourage the managers to make use of the best of present day technology so that results can be achieved faster and more effectively.

Attitude for embracing change – As a leader, the CEO can’t look against change. He has to adapt to the changing times. The present day market place is every changing. He needs to evaluate these changes and then adapt according to them. Leadship CEO requires him to be dynamic rather than being static and not embracing change.

Leadship CEO is a continuous learning experience – Studies show that organizations that have been able to survive and do well are the ones who are constantly evolving. The CEO should have a keen eye to learn in response to the changing organizational needs. The employees are expected to create learning opportunities of their own instead of the traditional way of giving them leaflets which they are expected to read. Self motivation to learn new things as per the demanding situation is the key here.

Thriving in uncertain situations -  No matter  what happens, leadship CEO expects the CEO to not break down even in the most difficult situations. He should keep his cool at all times and even motivate his managers to do the same. The individuals are expected to master the skills of creative collaboration and find immediate solutions to problem rather than sitting back and doing nothing about them.

Network within an outside the organization – It is the CEO who carries the responsibility of the whole organization on his shoulders. He can be called as the ambassador of the company. Hence leadship CEO expects him to develop a strong bond with people inside and outside the organization. He should encourage cross functional work teams within the organization and develop matric structures which require a specialized set of skills.

Adding value – One of leadship CEO’s main goal is to add value to the organization. Organizations can no longer a workplace that merely takes care of the expected work. Today it is much more than that and hence the CEO should raise the standards of the organization for putting up an exemplary performance. He should make each and every employee in the organization realize that they be like the stakeholders of the company.

Career Advancement – Leadship CEO expects the CEO to raise the bar of career advancement in the organization. He should use career advancement as one of the motivation factors in the organization. It normally involves promotion to the upper levels so that the employees can add more value to the business.

Enhancing new workplace relationships – The CEO needs to design goals within the organization to make new employees feel at home. He needs to devise principles of quickly absorbing the new employees and making them work in collaboration with the other employees in the organization.

Today we can say that CEO is synonymous with a leader in the organization. He is the leader of all departments in the company, right from the finance, marketing, operations and human resources. As a leader, the CEO has to fulfill the major functions of organization, selection, motivation, implementation and direction.

The CEO must carry out his functions within significant constraints and time which is limited for him. The CEO has indirect or direct responsible over every aspect of the organization. The managers under him have to report to him and he may have to skip the hierarchy in certain cases if he needs to communicate with people much junior to him in organizational role.

He is the one who inspires a sense of loyalty and answerability, trust and confidence in the organization. People look to him in times of need or any problems and as a leader he has to be an effective and quick solver. In short, a CEO is responsible for anything and everything in the organization and there is no doubt that he needs to have exceptional leadership skills for the same.

CEO leadership also includes setting long term goals and strategies of the organization. He has to set a vision and then figure out how he will make it into a reality. There is no one else in the company who can play this role better than the CEO.

The senior management works in collaboration with the CEO to develop the strategies. The CEO then has to present these strategies to the senior management (Board of Directors) who are responsible for approving the business plan. Once the plans are approved the CEO is solely responsible for moving the ideas forward.

In order to execute the long term strategies and goals of the company the CEO has to work in co ordination with the senior managers of the various departments. It is here that his leadership skills are tested to the core. As a leader he should have a vision and proper delegation skills to ensure that the actual results are based on the expected results. The CEO should have a vision of the future and how he will perceive his company in the future.

Vision is an important catalyst that will multiply the efforts put by the company’s employees. It becomes necessary for the CEO to have a big dream and find out ways to achieve it. As a leader, the CEO should be an excellent delegator so that he can concentrate on the important tasks at hand.

The CEO is solely responsible as a leader for building the company culture. He should get the work done successfully through people and he should ensure that they have a proper organizational culture under whose preview they will work. It is the CEO who sets the tone for the organizational culture in any organization. This is an important aspect of the CEO’s leadership skills.

As a leader, the CEO is responsible for hiring and firing the senior management team. This team in turn hires and fires the rest of the organization’s employees. The CEO is responsible for setting the direction and drafting the vision and strategy of the organization. If the direction is clear then the team can work together and make it happen. The CEO has to build a feeling of oneness in the organization and make each and every person in the organization realize that the results are directly proportionate to their efforts.

The CEO is responsible for setting the budgets to fund the various projects in the organization. He also considers the company’s major expenditures and manages the company’s capital. Though some CEOs are not totally finance guys they need to take decisions about the company’s financial fate after consulting people under him.

Last but not the least, the CEO has to make everyone realize that the company is all about the people because it is the people who create the products and generate revenues. They are also responsible for managing the suppliers, customers and other resources. Hence they should be regarded as the most important resource as they control other resources.

The CEO refers to the Chief Executive Officer and he is the highest ranked officer in the company. He is in charge of the total management of the organization, right from physical resources to human resources. A CEO of bigger corporations will have managers working under him to take care of each department and the managers in turn have to report to the CEO for the functioning and any problems that his department faces. The CEO has to have strong leadership skills and he in turn has to report to the Board of the Directors of a company.

It is the Board of Directors who set the responsibilities of the CEO. These functions are normally stated in a formal delegation conducted by the company. As mentioned before, a CEO should be a leader from the front. He should be an excellent communicator and a quick problem solver. He should be looked at as the highest administrative authority in the organization and he should be given his due respect.

The CEO leads as an effective decision maker, problem solver, communicator, manager and leader. He has to be a good communicator within and outside the organization. Communicating within the organization normally involves the managers directly under him but in certain circumstances he may have to communicate down the line as well. In the outside world he will have to communicate with the senior management in other companies as well as the press.

The CEO’s decision making power involves high decisions and long term goals, strategies and policies. The CEO leads by being an advisor to the Board of Directors as well as being a motivator to his employees. He should be a good listener as well so that he can take action in case of any complaints that cannot be solved by the managers who work under him.

The CEO’s responsibilities include making decisions and delegating. The CEO’s functions encompass all departments from marketing, finance, advertising, human resources and operations. Maintaining the human resources is a very important function and it includes hiring, development, developing PR, staff regulations and even firing.

The CEO is known as a leader as the most important function for him is to set the company’s long term goals and objectives. He sets the direction of the company about the products offered and which markets the company should enter. He thinks of the present and future objectives of the company which could often be based on the performances of the past.

The CEO must also be responsible for developing a positive culture in the organization. This is because the company’s performance is a direct result of the performance of the people who are motivated by positive culture. People in the company look upon the CEO from different aspects such as how he dresses, how he conducts himself, whether he is a smart problem solver, etc.

In terms of human resources, the CEO leads by instilling the values of effective team building. He is responsible for hiring, leading and even firing the senior management. The senior management team in turn hires and fires the human resource in the rest of the organization. He must be able to show the senior management the bigger goal which has to be broken up into sub goals by the senior management and delegated to the rest of the organization. The strategies are broken down into plans that will help to achieve the desired goals.

The CEO also leads in the proper allocation of the company’s resources. He is responsible for setting the budget for each project. He analyzes the financial figures of the company such as the company’s capital and expenditures. He will then make a detailed budget about the expenses to be allocated to each project. The CEO has to see that his company maintains good liquidity.

And then the CEO shows his leadership skills by drafting a performance chart. He has to see that all the goals are met. He will make a comparison chart which shows expected results and actual results. If the actual results are good then he may sit down and chalk out plans to make it better. In case the results are not as desired then he will do a complete analysis about the reason for negative results and then suggest remedial measures.

Hence we see that as a leader, the CEO needs to portray different skills and attitudes. He is expected to have tremendous patience at every point of time as people under him are depending on him. He could be either a transactional leader who makes things happen or transformational leader who is a visionary with the strong ability to draft and fulfill long terms goals of the organization.

To summarize the functions of the CEO, he should:-

• Create a picture of continuous positive change in the organization.
• Develop an environment that is conducive to self renewal and learning.
• Should have a high level of patience and tolerance.
• should be a natural leader to lead from the front and motivate his people
• Admit his mistakes and be positive to learning new things.
• have a strong goal of objectives for himself and his business
• Share decision making and power with his managers.
• Be willing to share his expertise whenever necessary.
• Be a mentor and a teacher to his managers.
• have professional standards
• Respond to the unspoken and spoken needs of an organization.