Ceo Leadership
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.