What do CEOs Do All Day?

So there you are – you’re a new CEO, you show up for work on your first day, you find your desk, cubicle, office, corner, whatever.?You put your bag down, log into your computer, and then what??What is your actual job?

If you’re like me, you’ve always had clearly defined positions.?As “Editor in Chief, Jim, you are responsible for all the content in the magazine, and you need to make sure the manuscript ships to the printer every two weeks.?Or else you’re fired. “

Everyone who works for you should have a clearly defined role.?Your Head of Sales sells.?Your Head of Product makes pretty things.?Your Head of Finance manages money and pays bills.?Your Head of Business Development is a professional drinker.?But you.?What does a CEO do?

If you really want to screw up, try to do everything!?Or nothing.?Both are equally dangerous.?If you micromanage, you’ll push your team away.?If you do nothing they’ll probably leave because nothing gets done.

So, what should a CEO do??I’ll answer this in many different ways, but let me first go to one of my favorite sources for advice on startups and structure and everything.?Written by one of the top VCs in the industry, Fred Wilson of Union Square Partners. His blog “A VC” is chock full of great info.?In fact, I suggest you set this aside and just go read everything Fred’s ever written.?I can wait.?

Still here??OK, Fred started writing in late 2003, and almost 20 years later he’s got all sorts of great stuff.?But unfortunately, there were relatively few posts in the fall of 2007 when I was first trying to figure it all out.?His insightful post “What a CEO Does” wouldn’t be published for 3 more years.

Fred passes down wisdom he learned from another crusty old investor, to quote:

A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.

?OK, just three things. That’s pretty easy.?First, make sure you have enough money – cash is the red blood of your enterprise.?We’d just raised 8 million (although only about 6.5M was left).?Set vision and strategy – that’s key.?And building a team of the best talent – yeah, that’s pretty important too.

If you do just those three things, and do them well, you’ll be a pretty good CEO.?But there’s a more structured approach you can take as well that I learned from Jack D. (aka Jack Dorsey). He's still one of the most structured and driven CEOs I know. He has to be – at one point he was running both Twitter and Square AT THE SAME TIME!?He managed that crazy task by tackling a different category of problem on each day of the week.??

MONDAY: Management meetings and running the company – here’s where he would do the hard work of setting and aligning priorities, evaluating financials and other nuts-and-bolts operational details

TUESDAY: Product Development – what are we building, how is it developing and what does it look like.?

WEDNESDAY: Marketing, Communications and Growth – talking to the outside world about what his companies are doing, working on revenue and sales.

THURSDAY: Developers and Partnerships – building strong links to other companies that can help you

FRIDAY:?The company and culture – all hands meetings, setting culture, talking to individual and small groups of employees.

This strategy isn’t right for everyone.?I had a fantasy after seeing Jack explain this to me that I would do the same thing.?But it was too hard – or I just wasn’t disciplined enough.?But still, if you’re struggling, this might not be a bad framework to adopt.

Or you could just do everything or nothing - yet another dumb way to kill your startup.

This story inspired the following video - TLDR, watch instead of read.