NEW: What you need to know about the CEO’s job (Part II)

Memory Nguwi

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Primary duties of a CEO

Under this section of the job description of the CEO, you list all the core duties the CEO performs.

Remember that the CEO role is strategic and rarely goes into operational issues, if the role is pitched correctly.

The CEO must be highly aware of the diverse economic, social, political, technological and religious environments to grow and protect shareholder value.

They often oversee profit and loss in one or several strategic business units, and assess their overall value as reflected in the corporate balance sheet.

A company’s CEO performs various functions, including strategic planning, raising money and representing the company to the outside world.

They are the ones who get the final word on all significant decisions.

They make input into critical operational decisions.

One of the primary responsibilities is to ensure the company remains profitable, which means finding ways to increase revenues and cut costs where possible.

The job description of CEO includes dealing with mission-critical issues that impact the organisation’s operations.

As they make vital decisions, they often pay attention to global, national and regional environments, specifically building the organisation’s capacity to respond to environmental changes.

The CEO is responsible for activities and decisions materially influencing the organisation’s survival.

This is why such roles require astute candidates in strategy formulation and implementation. Decisions at this level may only impact the organisation five to ten years in the future.

A poor decision at this level may threaten the future well-being of the entire organisation.

The CEO at this level may be required to anticipate and establish new unified business systems that serve society’s future needs.

This is accomplished through alliances, mergers and acquisitions.

The critical consideration is how value can be established and enhanced across the business.

The decision-making process is geared to meet critical business drivers, which are sustained profit and wealth creation for the long-term, while contextually considering social, environmental sustainability and ethical issues.

These are issues that cannot escape the attention of the CEO in the globalised village.

The work primarily focuses on building sustainable wealth in its most general meaning.

The CEO must secure investment money and actively manage image, reputation, and financial issues to build confidence in the business’ complicated web of relationships.

The CEO provides a dual perspective, one that looks outside to secure the company’s long-term existence and another that looks within to establish and maintain working conditions ideal for the internal stakeholders.

This is the highest organisational level, where key strategic decisions and choices are made.

It is the level at which the rules of the game for the following decade are intentionally decided.

Individuals operating at this level will be required to operate outside their functional area and give equal weight to several other functional areas.

It does not matter what background the candidate has in functional areas.

What matters is the ability to lead the whole organisation.

Work at this level is focused on formulating an organisational strategic intent, which may be defined as expressing a desired and attainable future position.

This is the core of the work being done at this level.

They monitor the profit and loss position, and evaluate their overall value as reflected in the company’s balance sheet.

They analyse the asset needs of the business to determine whether or not there should be an increase or decrease in investment in light of the long-term strategic thrust of the business.

The most important thing for a CEO is to ensure that the company meets its goals and objectives. In some cases, the CEO may be responsible for all aspects of the business, including financial performance, human resources, marketing, and product development.

In other cases, the CEO may delegate these responsibilities to other senior management team members.

The duties and responsibilities of a CEO vary from one organisation to another.

However, the following are the typical duties and responsibilities associated with the position: Setting the company’s vision and strategy, making significant decisions, managing operations and resources, and serving as the board of directors’ principal point of contact.

Below I list some of the core duties that a job description of a CEO should contain:

– Decides the overall strategic direction of the business.

– Decides what policies are needed to support the strategic direction of the business.

– Coordinates the economic, social, technological or political contexts for the entire organisation.

– Determines significant policy setting constraints for the business.

– Sets the organisation’s financial and social direction, including the enterprise’s viability.

– Oversees profit and loss for the business and its subsidiaries.

– Determines the objectives for corporate investment and divestiture.

– Assesses the value of current technologies and seeks new ones.

– Develops human capital capabilities to enable the business to be sustainable.

– Creates an enabling environment to enable all critical stakeholders to participate in the company’s operations.

– Engages critical external stakeholders to create opportunities for the enterprise.

– Ensures that the firm and its products or services have a positive image in the public eye and work to promote and preserve that image.

– Works with the board to promote good corporate governance practices throughout the organisation.

– Act as the lead person in promoting social responsibility interventions in liaison with the community.

– Leads in building and sustaining a performance culture within the business.

– Develops mechanisms to manage risk throughout the business.

– Develops mechanisms for tracking the progress of the strategic goals and feedback to the board.

– Provides overall leadership to the organisation.

– Develops and monitors the implementation of the company’s succession plans for critical roles.

CEO job education requirements

To become a CEO, one must typically have a college degree in business, economics, or a related field.

CEOs typically have significant experience working in management positions. Many CEOs began their careers working in entry-level jobs and worked their way up through the ranks of their respective organisations.

The job of a CEO is one of the most important and demanding jobs in a company.

A CEO needs to be highly educated and experienced to succeed.

The education requirements for a CEO vary depending on the company and the position, but a CEO typically needs a bachelor’s degree in business or a related field.

Many CEOs also have a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) or a related field.

Despite the demand for college degrees as a minimum requirement for CEOs, scientific research shows that years of education have a significant but weak relationship with actual job performance.

When hiring CEOs, it may be beneficial not to overemphasize academic achievements.

*Memory Nguwi is an occupational psychologist, data scientist, speaker, and managing consultant- Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm.Email:[email protected] or visit our websites https://www.thehumancapitalhub.com/ and www.ipcconsultants.com