LeadCEO: CEO Leadership

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.