This book starts its expose from the top of a company or corporate leadership. The CEO's Leadership Imperatives. It addressed the CEO's role in an organization and discussed some business imperatives a CEO cannot delegate to subordinates. This book addressed the profile and characteristics a modern CEO should possess. Such generic attributes like outstanding leadership and excellent operational execution are discussed. The book suggests that a CEO must have skills such as being an influential strategic thinker, a great people manager, and the ability to engage with external constituencies effectively. A modern CEO must possess these qualities to navigate the complexities of contemporary business terrain effectively. The chapter advises that these qualities can be incorporated into a company's criteria for a new CEO. Great CEOs provide capital investments that constitute the total cash a company requires pursuing its objectives. Capital investments are the essential means by which a company can provide its goods and services to customers. And investors and analysts closely watch the total amount of debt a company has on the books, and because of this, they have an unfavorable outlook when a company has an enormous debt.
Effective CEOs build their organization's culture because they understand that the strength of a company's culture can determine how well it will triumph through adversity. Strong organizational culture can also help determine how well a company would deal with prosperity. And great CEOs set up a culture of regular measures of how well their companies perform. They regularly and consistently measure their organization's performance and hold everyone to a high standard required to accomplish the company's goals. When the CEO demands accountability for the high-performance standard, the company's productivity usually performs at its maximum.
The CEO sets the strategic agenda and the verification system for business performance metrics. In addressing the CEO's profile, this chapter clarified that a modern CEO must make brilliant decisions. The CEO owns the execution of major decisions in the company; therefore, she is responsible for the strategic or major business decisions. She is responsible for adequately guiding major business plan execution. She is also responsible for determining what and how they are measured.
