Gone are days when chief executive officer (CEOs) enjoyed their stature and had lesser tension. These days, CEOs are on toes and work beyond their limit to achieve organisational goals.
Research shows that between 35% and 50% of all CEOs are replaced within five years and this is a costly proposition for any organisation. Hence, an organisation would not trade to lose its leader until the leader is purely inefficient.
According to Abraham Thomas, CEO, Radio City, “There are multiple dimensions of a CEO’s role in today’s age of digital disruption - from creating an environment that nurtures creativity, innovation and encourages experimentation on one hand to empowering the employees by cultivating an inclusive and collaborative work culture on the other; and to build processes and systems that facilitate great implementation of strategy.”
And with booming industrialisation and development, the need for transformation under strong leadership has become even more indispensable.
The role of CEO is evolving and companies are leaving no stone unturned to have an efficient CEO on board who can change the growth trajectory of the company.
Among the list of traditional roles that CEOs perform, some new dimensions have been also added in past years and it is interesting to note that their influence play a pivotal role in changing the organisational work culture to all new modern day set up.
The most important of all is making the team understand how organisation’s transformation is important and how it could bring unimaginable success. The second is influencing the mindset and behaviour of the team by embarking on a new journey and encouraging others to follow. To harness the power of change, building a strong and committed team is another role of the CEO. Today, CEOs have to get involved with team to bring any change, and thus, he relentlessly has to pursue the impact.
The performance of outstanding leaders is evident by 2017 ranking of the world’s best-performing CEOs. Interestingly, the list had remained consistent in comparison with 2016. Two of 2017’s top three CEOs were among the top three leaders in 2016, and 16 of the top 25 were in the top quartile. While 72 of last year’s 100 leaders are repeats, 23 are appearing for the fourth straight year.
Of the 28 CEOs who could not make to the list in 2017 included 11 CEOs who retired from their companies.
On an average, these 100 CEOs gave way to 2,507% return on the stock during the 17-year tenure, for a 21% average annual return.
With the world getting digitalised, today CEOs have to put on new shoes to take the organisation on the fast-paced digital platform. “The future CEO has to embrace technology and ensure his organisation is nimble and future fit. Digital and AI will be the new buzzword and the very basics of doing business will get questioned and transformed in the next 3-4 years. You will need to change to ensure you are relevant in the new dynamic world. People will be time-starved and attention span will get further reduced hence simplicity and UI/UX will be the game changer. Productivity matrix will be revolutionised with robots and AI becoming an inherent part of the business. Continuous innovation and training will be the cornerstone of scalable and successful business models. Ability to retain talent and keeping them relevant will be critical for the CEO to succeed in this dynamic environment,” says Ajay Menon, managing director and CEO, Motilal Oswal Securities Limited.
Last but not the least, CEOs role will always include to create a positive work culture. Rahul Agarwal, CEO and managing director, Lenovo India, says, “Strong leadership requires a multifaceted approach. Beyond the professional call of profitability comes the onus of maintaining a happy workforce and a fearless culture that nurtures values, encourages open communication and rewards innovation. While strategy and implementation are critical qualities of a CEO, a true leader must know how to bring out the best in people. Striking the right balance between strategy, operations and people (SOP) is an art that a good CEO needs to master. It’s the opportunity to influence culture and people’s lives that adds a whole new and exciting dimension to a CEO’s role!”
The new dimensions in role of CEOs have made it clear that a successful CEO is one who never stops learning and never stops teaching others.
Jack Welch rightly says, “Before you are leader, expert is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
The writer is executive coach & owner of www.thechrysallis.com
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