How to become Chief Executive in 2024

Chief Executive Determine and formulate policies and provide overall direction of companies or private and public sector organizations within guidelines set up by a board of directors or similar governing body. Plan, direct, or coordinate operational activities at the highest level of management with the help of subordinate executives and staff managers.

Chief Executive is Also Know as

In different settings, Chief Executive is titled as

  • CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Chief Diversity Officer (CDO)
  • Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
  • Chief Information Officer (CIO)
  • Chief Operating Officer (COO)
  • Chief Technical Officer (CTO)
  • Executive Director
  • Executive Vice President (EVP)
  • Operations Vice President (Operations VP)
  • President

Education and Training of Chief Executive

Chief Executive is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Chief Executive

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Education Required for Chief Executive

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Degrees Related to Chief Executive

Training Required for Chief Executive

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Chief Executive in different industries are

What Do Chief Executive do?

  • Direct or coordinate an organization's financial or budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, or increase efficiency.
  • Confer with board members, organization officials, or staff members to discuss issues, coordinate activities, or resolve problems.
  • Analyze operations to evaluate performance of a company or its staff in meeting objectives or to determine areas of potential cost reduction, program improvement, or policy change.
  • Direct, plan, or implement policies, objectives, or activities of organizations or businesses to ensure continuing operations, to maximize returns on investments, or to increase productivity.
  • Prepare budgets for approval, including those for funding or implementation of programs.
  • Direct or coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.
  • Negotiate or approve contracts or agreements with suppliers, distributors, federal or state agencies, or other organizational entities.
  • Review reports submitted by staff members to recommend approval or to suggest changes.
  • Appoint department heads or managers and assign or delegate responsibilities to them.
  • Direct human resources activities, including the approval of human resource plans or activities, the selection of directors or other high-level staff, or establishment or organization of major departments.
  • Preside over, or serve on, boards of directors, management committees, or other governing boards.
  • Prepare or present reports concerning activities, expenses, budgets, government statutes or rulings, or other items affecting businesses or program services.
  • Establish departmental responsibilities and coordinate functions among departments and sites.
  • Implement corrective action plans to solve organizational or departmental problems.
  • Coordinate the development or implementation of budgetary control systems, recordkeeping systems, or other administrative control processes.
  • Direct non-merchandising departments, such as advertising, purchasing, credit, or accounting.
  • Deliver speeches, write articles, or present information at meetings or conventions to promote services, exchange ideas, or accomplish objectives.
  • Serve as liaisons between organizations, shareholders, and outside organizations.
  • Nominate citizens to boards or commissions.
  • Interpret and explain policies, rules, regulations, or laws to organizations, government or corporate officials, or individuals.
  • Make presentations to legislative or other government committees regarding policies, programs, or budgets.
  • Refer major policy matters to elected representatives for final decisions.
  • Administer programs for selection of sites, construction of buildings, or provision of equipment or supplies.
  • Direct or coordinate activities of businesses involved with buying or selling investment products or financial services.
  • Direct or conduct studies or research on issues affecting areas of responsibility.
  • Attend and participate in meetings of municipal councils or council committees.
  • Organize or approve promotional campaigns.
  • Conduct or direct investigations or hearings to resolve complaints or violations of laws, or testify at such hearings.
  • Represent organizations or promote their objectives at official functions, or delegate representatives to do so.
  • Prepare bylaws approved by elected officials, and ensure that bylaws are enforced.
  • Review and analyze legislation, laws, or public policy and recommend changes to promote or support interests of the general population or special groups.

Qualities of Good Chief Executive

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.

Tools Used by Chief Executive

  • 10-key calculators
  • Desktop computers
  • Laptop computers
  • Personal computers
  • Personal digital assistants PDA
  • Smartphones
  • Universal serial bus USB flash drives

Technology Skills required for Chief Executive

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • AdSense Tracker
  • Atlassian JIRA
  • Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
  • ComputerEase construction accounting software
  • Database reporting software
  • Databox
  • Email software
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Exact Software Macola ES Labor Performance
  • Extensible markup language XML
  • Fund accounting software
  • Graphic presentation software
  • Halogen e360
  • Halogen ePraisal
  • HCSS HeavyBid
  • HCSS HeavyJob
  • Human resource information system (HRIS)
  • Infor SSA Human Capital Management
  • Intuit QuickBooks
  • Listserv software
  • Lyris HQ Web-Analytics Solution
  • Mentimeter
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Microsoft Dynamics AX
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft FRx
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft Publisher
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Nedstat Sitestat
  • Norchard Solutions Succession Wizard
  • Online advertising reporting software
  • Oracle E-Business Suite
  • Oracle PeopleSoft
  • Oracle Siebel Server Sync
  • PHP
  • Relational database management software
  • Sage 50 Accounting
  • SAP software
  • SmugMug Flickr
  • Structured query language SQL
  • Web browser software