David Politis

What does it mean to be a CEO? The Chief Executive Officer of a company or an organization?

This is not a rhetorical question, as I was asked this very real question the other day by a client who has been asked to step into this role by a company’s board of directors following the death of the firm’s CEO. Not an easy task, mind you.

That said, I’ve given the question some serious thought. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

What it means to be a CEO — by David Politis

By the very words that make up the title — Chief Executive Officer – I believe that a CEO is the ultimate executive officer within an organization and the executive to whom all other executives, officers and employees ultimately report to.

Under the guidance and direction of the board of directors, the CEO is the person who sets the overall goals and objectives for the company, as well as the strategies necessary to accomplish such goals and objectives.

In my opinion, the CEO is the person ultimately responsible for coalescing each of the disparate programs, ideas, campaigns and opportunities within an organization into a cohesive plan of attack, as well as the person responsible for marshaling the personnel and resources necessary to successfully win the company’s battles and wars.

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No, “Back on the Ladder Again” isn’t meant as some metaphorical mumbo-jumbo.

I actually did get back up on a ladder for the first time in more than two months yesterday to take down the Christmas lights on the outside of our home. So what’s the big deal?

Well . . . while putting up those same Christmas lights the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day, I fell while stepping off a ladder, jamming my extended right arm in the process and fractured a bone in my elbow and tore some ligaments near my wrist. No, not fun.

After about six weeks of healing (no cast, mind you), my arm and wrist got back to mostly normal. (I can straighten my arm to about 175 degrees or so, but that’s okay. The fracture happened on my jacked up right arm anyway, the one I got the shoulder surgery on a couple of years back, so what the heck?)

So . . . yesterday was my first fateful day back up on the ladder (and on the roof too). And yes, I was a bit tentative, particularly since there’s a fair amount of snow on the ground still. (Thankfully none on the roof.)

The good news, is that there is no news. The lights are all down and packed away, and I’m no worse for the journey.