The title Chief Executive Officer is misleading. A much better description for the tasks faced by CEOs would be Chief Growth Officer, with an emphasis on business development.

Although the boss is indeed chief and an executive director, he or she should have a wider view of the business rather than heading up all day-to-day ‘executing’, taking direct responsibility for putting all the plans in motion, taking charge of all the product lines and productive apparatus and driving all the other people into performing their assigned tasks.

That's why I believe CGO, or Chief Growth Officer, is a better, more accurate title for what the CEO should be doing. But he or she also needs to double up as CIO – the I here stands for 'Ideas' rather than 'Information' - which again shifts the emphasis towards business development.

There are too many voices calling for the CEO's attention, both inside and outside the company.

The emphasis of the title CEO is wrong. The incumbent should also be the CSO, the Chief Supervisory Officer, responsible for ensuring everybody else is on the right track.

However, that responsibility has to be structured and delegated. All top managers must be comfortable with the people who, in turn, are responsible for those below them. As the CISO, or Chief Internal Systems Officer, the CEO has to work towards developing a business that is a living organism that bypasses bureaucracy and puts in its place a fast and effective chain of command.

As for the CEO's role as Chief Ideas Officer, it might not necessarily mean that the incumbent has all or even most of the ideas. They have the essential job of making all their people feel and act like key members of a really creative team.

For more on business development, see http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/business-management/business-development.php

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Posted By Thinking Managers at 9:29 PM in Category:business development

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