Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Editor's Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction – Leading within and across the functions
- Section I The Business Imperatives
- Section II The CXOs: Within the Functions
- Section III The CEO and the Leadership Team – Pulling it all together
- 17 From CXO to CEO – The weight of accountability
- 18 The Chief Executive Officer – Orchestrating the whole
- 19 Relations Among CXOs – Competing priorities spell trouble
- 20 The Top Team – From executive group to executive team
- Conclusion
- Index
- References
17 - From CXO to CEO – The weight of accountability
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Editor's Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction – Leading within and across the functions
- Section I The Business Imperatives
- Section II The CXOs: Within the Functions
- Section III The CEO and the Leadership Team – Pulling it all together
- 17 From CXO to CEO – The weight of accountability
- 18 The Chief Executive Officer – Orchestrating the whole
- 19 Relations Among CXOs – Competing priorities spell trouble
- 20 The Top Team – From executive group to executive team
- Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
Becoming the CEO is a big change. It's less glamorous than it looked from below and it's a lot more pressure. There's more work and more responsibility. As a CXO, I knew all that, but I never realized how many expectations there were from directors, shareholders and customers – not to mention the responsibility I feel for our 16,000 employees.
(CEO, insurance company)In this third and final section of the book, we shift attention from the individual business functions to the task of ensuring that they work together in productive ways. We examine this challenge in two stages: first, by exploring the job of the CEO; then by setting out the tasks that must be handled by all CXOs to ensure productive teamwork at the top.
To describe the work of the CEO, we begin in this present chapter by examining the background to the greater responsibilities faced by CEOs compared to other CXOs. Then in the following chapter, we set out the key details of the CEO's job.
The CEO: many people to influence, and it's lonely work
A typical CEO wears many hats on any given day. Typical daily agenda items include: attending board meetings, CXO team meetings, one-to-one discussions with CXOs and other subordinates, giving and receiving updates on company activities and results, meeting with key customers and suppliers, and generally guiding the firm forward.
The CEO's time is generally the bottleneck resource in the company.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Leading in the Top TeamThe CXO Challenge, pp. 331 - 347Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008