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The Five Roles of the Chief Executive Officer By:
Jerry Dilettuso
Several years ago a private equity firm recruited me
to be the CEO of a troubled company that provided apparel, camps, and
competitions to the cheerleading world. As part of my duties, I was
invited to speak to coachesÃââ organizations that were made up of
mostly middle and high school teachers. Generally, their knowledge of
the activities of a CEO was limited to what they learned from the media,
which was not at all favorable. When they met me, they were filled
with images of CEOÃââs from companies such as ENRON, WorldCom, Tyco,
Adelphia, and the like. Because they were educators and naturally
inquisitive, they would ask me, very pointedly, ÃâÅWhat do you really
do?Ã It caused me to think more deeply about my job as a CEO.
Recalling the CEOÃââs I have known, as
well as my own experiences, I have come to believe that a CEO has five
roles. He1
is the chief strategy protagonist, chief organizational designer, chief
talent scout and team builder, chief agenda setter, and head cheerleader.
Everything he does can be placed into one of these five roles. They
are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are inseparably intertwined
and overlapping, and they are mutually supportive.
Chief Strategy Protagonist
Fundamentally,
Strategy
is an iterative process built on a foundation of extensive analysis
directed towards customers, competition, and economics. The result of
analysis should lead, inexorably, to a clear and simple strategy statement
anyone can understand. The process must involve as many people in the
organization as reasonably possible without lapsing into paralysis or chaos.
The ultimate strategy should include a ÃâÅvalues propositionà that
posits, paradoxically, profit is not the primary pursuit; itÃââs an
outcome. The primary pursuit is excellence in products and services.
To motivate people to achieve excellence, the organization must have a
ÃâÅloftier purpose.à At our cheerleading company our
ÃâÅloftier purposeà was, ÃâÅWe help kids grow up.Ã
The job of the CEO is to be the catalyst in the development of a concise
strategy based on demonstrable quantitative and anecdotal evidence.
Chief Organizational Designer
Organizational design consists of four
elements: business model, structure,
processes, and culture, of which the latter two are the most important.
Good processes, such as a solid business planning process or a rigorous
continuous improvement process,
encourage disciplined
thinking, promote corporate-wide integration, and resolve trade-offs.
Culture ALWAYS comes from the top and
is rooted in the personal attributes and actions the organization values.
A successful organization must value open and honest communication;
outspoken, challenging thinking; the free flow of and widespread access to
pertinent data; an inclusive as opposed to exclusionary atmosphere; the
passionate encouragement of creativity; a religious fervor for measurements;
and a pervasive commitment to the creation of a ÃâÅmeritocracy.Ã
The job of the CEO is to install the appropriate processes and embody the
values of the organization.
Chief
Talent Scout and Team Builder
There are two axioms that underlie this
role: the most important decision any manager ever makes is who to hire, and
business is a team sport. Consequently, the CEO must get involved in
the hiring process across the entire organization as deeply as humanly
possible without becoming meddlesome. The essence of teamwork is
convincing individuals to set aside their own personal goals and aspirations
for the greater goal of team success. Because very few teams become
successful, this may well be the most difficult job a CEO has.
Chief Agenda Setter
No company has limitless resources, and the
scarcest resource of all is time. The CEO must decide how best to
deploy the collective efforts and energies of the entire organization: which
processes to install; what analyses to perform; what metrics to track; what
projects to undertake; and a host of other endeavors that devour time.
Behind who to hire, the second most important decision a CEO makes is choice
of agenda.
Head Cheerleader
The role of head cheerleader is all about
accessibility and approachability inside and outside the ÃâÅcorner
officeÃ: around the offices, on the factory floors, in customer
meetings, in vendor visits, in the community. ItÃââs mostly
comprised of one-on-one, informal conversations with a wide range of the
organizationÃââs constituencies to obtain unfiltered, frank
perspectives and assessments; to provide encouragement and reinforcement;
and to offer constructive criticism in a positive manner. It involves
the element of inspection in a rather subtle way, and it requires a selfless
commitment in terms of time and travel.
These roles require equal parts science and
art. With considerable help from my teammates, I employed all of them
as we, together, turned around our cheerleading company. The beloved
Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, said it perfectly, ÃâÅThe
best of all leaders is the one who helps people so that, eventually, they
donÃâât need him. When he is finished with his work, the people
say, ÃâËœIt happened naturally.ÃââÃ
We should have zero tolerance
for the ÃâÅImperialà or ÃâÅCelebrityà CEO.
Achievement of the ÃâÅloftier purposeà and organizational success
alone must be the real reward.
I use the pronoun
ÃâÅheà throughout this article in that I am a ÃâÅhe.Ã
I fully believe, however, that a woman can perform the roles of the CEO
equally as well as or better than a man.
Mr.
Dilettuso offers a seminar at Southern Methodist University and regularly
speaks to groups and organizations on
The Five Roles of the Chief Executive Officer.
He can be reached at
dilettuso@sbcglobal.net and 972-569-7848.
Call Jerry Dilettuso at
972-980-7407 to discover how we can help you reach your goals and give you peace
of mind
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