Day of a CEO

While I've heard, read and researched on a CEO's life, skill and role in her/his organization, how's the day of a CEO like? May not necessarily be in a F500, but predominantly I'm looking for some grass-root explanation of how's her/his initial days goes by? While it's understood that s/he is the driving force who gives the vision to the company and steers her towards the set objectives, covering the general management aspects of the game, I'm trying to understand the Leader's daily ride.

Suppose, it's your first day, walking-in with your head high in your best attire, meeting the Board of Directors who offered you the hot seat with 90% majority. What would be your first 3-6 month's priorities and activities? What uncertainties and surprises would you expect? Assume the company is public, growing as a leader in its segment for the last 4 years, creating shareholder value satisfactorily. You (as an outsider) are replacing the retired CEO who gave the product based company tremendous success, making it public from scratch in the last 15 years.

Experienced CEO's are highly encouraged to put their perspectives and thoughts across the table, aspiring ones can share their knowledge with us and other Executives can help us understand the whats, whys and hows of the game - all are welcome!

7 Comments
 
Best Response

Based on my observation of CEOs' work, I would say that the board of directors chose you for a reason - it could be your experience in a niche industry or a type of transformation that you have led in the past. This reason will most certainly be made clear to you well before you join. In case you don't know, picking a CEO is a more elaborate process than hiring an analyst. The job has a lot more freedom and power so the interviewers make sure that the y get the right guy or gal. Anyway, before your first day you would have a good idea of the major deliverables expected from you. Also, at that level you would have spent a good amount of time with key senior managers to get an understanding of the company so you can come in on day 1 and hit the ground running. That means that from day 1 you will have at least a general plan to get to achieve the deliverables set out for you. You can refine and manage the plan as time goes by along with identifying what other objectives you need to go after later on. 'hope that makes sense.

 

I work at a start-up structuring shop type of deal, so this might not be the most helpful (but I do interact with the CEO a fair amount). He's literally just on the phone all day/in meetings maintaining existing relationships as well as trying to pitch business to new clients.

 

It's really simple. Your job is to increase profits and build a franchise for the long-term, so your activities largely reflect that. A portion of your time is dedicated to strategic initiatives and where you should put certain people in place to manage those initiatives. Some of your time is dedicated to meeting with the largest clients of the firm. Some of your time is meeting with investors. Some time is dedicated to hiring, promotions, and bonuses. Some time is dedicated to being an ambassador of the firm. No day is exactly the same. You get pulled in a million different directions. It's the best job in the planet.

 

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