What is a CEO? Responsibility for the company as a whole
The CEO is the most senior executive. Their job is to set the direction of the business and build a system in which people, capital and decisions create long-term value.
Six areas of responsibility
McKinsey identifies six main areas: setting company direction, organisational alignment, the leadership team, working with the board, external stakeholders and personal effectiveness. This is a useful map of the role: CEOs must work simultaneously on the future of the business, current execution and their own ability to make decisions.1
CEO, founder and board chair are different roles
The founder creates the company; a shareholder owns a stake; the CEO leads execution; the board provides strategic oversight and supervises management. One person may combine these roles, but their functions remain distinct. The OECD Principles assign the selection, assessment and succession of key executives to the board. Specific powers are determined by local law and company documents.3
Where the CEO’s personal attention is needed
CEOs should focus on choosing a direction, building the leadership team, allocating resources and addressing issues that no single function can resolve. Research into CEOs’ day-to-day work shows that the precise allocation of time depends on the company’s situation: there is no universal ready-made calendar. Regularly compare how you spend your time with your mandate and strategic priorities, instead of simply responding to the flow of requests.12
Challenges that do not fit within one function
The CEO must simultaneously deliver current results and prepare the company for changes in demand, capital, technology and people’s skills. What matters is not heroic intervention in every problem, but the ability to see interdependencies: sales growth can worsen service, cost cuts can destroy future capabilities, and rapid technology adoption can create new risks. Research by PwC, EY-Parthenon and WEF shows different aspects of this pressure; priorities depend on the market, the business’s stage and available resources. The CEO must identify their own set of tensions and explain how the team will make trade-offs.161854
Personal attention is a scarce resource
Map your time over the past six weeks: strategy, customers, the executive team, the board and operational exceptions. Compare it with the five outcomes for which you are accountable. If the calendar consists mainly of approvals that others could give, the problem may be unclear authority rather than personal discipline. Once a month, redirect time to issues only the CEO can resolve: declining investments, team composition, cross-functional conflicts, board relations and the trust of external partners. This way, the calendar begins to reflect the CEO’s actual mandate.12
Inside the CEO practice
Describe your role on one page: five outcomes for the year; decisions you retain; delegated authority; matters for the board; and conditions for intervening in operations. If this document does not match your calendar, either the calendar or your actual mandate needs to change.
Questions before a decision
- What outcome should the company achieve specifically because of my work?
- Which decisions stall in my absence—and should they?
- Where am I acting as CEO, and where as an owner or the head of an individual function?
Sources
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