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CEO Job Description

Kundan Pandey
Being at the pinnacle of the management and the executive board, a chief executive officer (CEO) leads the firm to ultimate success. The story below elaborates on the job description of a CEO.
In the management and business world, the position of CEOs has been assumed to be of significant importance. They are the torch bearers of an organization and at the highest executive position in a firm.
In the recent years, their designation has been associated with power, responsibilities, prestige, and huge financial gains. Think of Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, or Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple Computers.
The image formed in our minds is of intelligence and brilliance. Generally, if you glance at a list of CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies, you will notice a trend that majority of them have been the founding fathers of the firm they are leading!
With increased business opportunities and entrepreneurship gaining popularity, people having tons of experience and required expertise are hired by firms as CEOs. As a generic term, CEO is used for corporate enterprises that have board of directors and a typical corporate governance.

Job Description and Responsibilities

Coupled with exceptional leadership and effective decision-making skills, the job description of CEOs cover various crucial functions. Some of them have been discussed here.

Plan Strategic Business Objectives

  • Every department in a business firm is monitored by the CEO.
  • He chalks out the blue print of strategic business plans, evaluates the profitability of the plans, and discusses it with the board of directors and management members.
  • At the helm of every department, we have team heads and managers, however, they all have to ensure that their plans seek the approval of the CEO.
  • He is the initiator of all the policies and regulations in a firm. His vision and ideas are crucial for the success of the organization.

Represent the Firm

  • Corporate entities are invariably represented by their product quality, brand images, and the CEO.
  • He is the one who has to maintain a high profile image in the public events of the firm.
  • Attending industrial meetings, national and international conferences, and being in external public events form an important part of the job of a CEO. He is like the carrier of the brand image of the firm.

Build a Team

  • The CEO acts like a liaison between employees and board of directors of a firm.
  • An awareness about the performance of an individual employee, and at the same time, those of different departments is yet another important job description.

Allocate Budgets

  • CEOs decide and implement financial investment plans for the firm.
  • They analyze, evaluate, and distribute budgets to various projects.
  • They scrutinize major expenditures of the firm and ensure that the firm's revenues are directed in cost-effective and high rate of return investments.
  • Nonetheless, big deals, mergers, acquisitions, and purchase of big corporations always involve eye-popping investments. CEOs analyze the risk factor and then invest in the businesses.

Promote Positive Work Culture

  • They play a pivotal role in maintaining positive work environment in the organization.
  • Since every message of the CEO is communicated to the employees, they have to carefully perceive what employees feel through various steps of the management.
  • Issues related to employee mistakes, work attire, extra activities for employees, etc., are some inevitable issues that CEOs have to handle carefully.

Salaries

  • CEOs are among the highest paid individuals. Since they're leaders of firms, they command some whooping salaries depending on the success of the firms.
  • Salaries may range between USD 96,000 to US$ 310,000.
  • Those who have nearly 10 years of experience may can earn up to USD 450,000.
  • For those with more than 20 years of experience, the pay package is more than USD 700,000.
  • Besides, CEOs, qualify for several bonuses, benefits, and other compensation packages.
CEOs are visionaries who are responsible for failure and success of a firm. This kind of visionary attitude comes with a lot of work experience and company knowledge.