Yesterday, I completely forgot to mention the second most important role of a CEO!  Let’s recap:

#1: Provide the team with the necessary resources.
#2: Build shareholder value

#2 is the one I’ve known the most. Really a CEO works for the Board of Directors (who directly represent the shareholders). A CEO’s job is typically summed up in the 40,000 foot overview definition of “build shareholder value.” Meaning, always focus on increasing the valuation of a company.

This is obviously all encompassing, since everything from your team hires, technology development to revenue generation directly impact the valuation of a company.

So, there you go - that’s the best way to describe a CEO…

CEO = The head of an organization responsible for building shareholder value and facilitating all the resources necessary for the company to act on it’s business plan.

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I know I’ve been quiet as far as posting, just been working on many projects. Plus, rather than post regular random thoughts, I thought I’d write mostly USEFUL things that you can actually learn from!, so those only happen once in a while

Over the last month or so, I’ve had another epiphany where I figure out more about what a CEO’s job really is - big company or small.

Here’s how this started…

My mentor just recently accepted the CEO position at a company that is 100% out of his industry understanding - pretty amazing company though. As we were teasing him about his new position in a brand new industry (for him) he made a comment that really hit home with me, he said:

“It really doesn’t matter since the main role of a CEO is to just gather the resources so his team can do what they do best - he’s just there to make sure they have what they need.”

That one sentence probably taught me more about business than an entire semester in college and the funny thing is that he said it in passing in the lobby of our building while we were joking around…

I have thought about what he said for a while now and it makes total sense. That one statement alone also describes the major difference between a CEO and an entrepreneur. An “entrepreneur” has subject expertise so he/she works IN the industry. But a CEO is really a manager - someone who makes sure that the wheels are turning.

So go on and be the CEO, make sure everyone on your team has what they need!

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