What Does a CEO Do?

What is the job of the CEO?

You might be surprised how often this question is raised - even by CEOs. I have heard this from business owners as they navigate the forest through the trees; from senior leadership teams as they navigate high-growth or volatile environments and try to take work off the CEO’s shoulders; from emerging leaders who are preparing for what is ahead of them.?

Regardless of company size, the essence of a CEO’s job can be boiled down to 4 priorities that cannot be delegated and only the CEO can do:

1.?????Setting the strategy and direction of the company.

2.?????Modeling and setting the company’s mission, vision, values, and culture.

3.?????Building and leading the executive team.

4.?????Allocating the company’s capital to the companies’ strategic priorities.

For start-ups and smaller organizations, when the company’s operating budget does not accommodate a robust senior leadership team, the CEO must do what it takes to fill in the gaps on the leadership team until the company's revenue grows high enough to invest in expanding the leadership team.

My colleague Stever Robins has a great article on this topic if you would like to read his answer to this question:

What do CEOs do? A CEO Job Description - Stever Robbins