CareerJournal Defining the Duties Of the American CEO

Defining the Duties Of the American CEO
“By Peter F. Drucker
From The Wall Street Journal Online

CEOs have ultimate responsibility for the work of everybody else in their institution. But they also have work of their own — and the study of management has so far paid little attention to it. It is the same work, whether the organization is a business enterprise, a nonprofit, a church, a school or university, a government agency; and whether it is large or small, world-wide or purely local. And it is work only CEOs can do, but also work which CEOs must do.”

Laurie’s Comments:

This is an insightful article that gets down to the nitty gritty of what it really means to be a CEO. A CEO’s role is so much more than achieving P&L;, shareholder, or Wall Street objectives. The author emphasizes that his or her first task is to define the organization’s relationship to the “outside” – the society, economy, markets, customers, etc. The CEO must look at larger questions of what the business is, what it should be, what should be the priorities, with the most critical job being, ironically, to say “No.” The executive’s success in accomplishing these tasks determines his or her marketplace value and must be strongly portrayed in all self-marketing materials, including the executive resume.