Skip navigation

Chief Executives

Also called: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Executive Director

Where in the military? In the military: see titles from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, or Navy.

Watch Career Video

What they do:
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.
On the job, you would:
  • Direct or coordinate an organization's financial or budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, or increase efficiency.
  • Appoint department heads or managers and assign or delegate responsibilities to them.
  • 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.

Knowledge

Business
  • management
  • human resources (HR)
Arts and Humanities
  • English language
Safety and Government
  • law and government
  • public safety and security
Math and Science
  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics

Skills

Basic Skills
  • talking to others
  • thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Abilities

Verbal
  • listen and understand what people say
  • communicate by speaking
Ideas and Logic
  • use rules to solve problems
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Math
  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem
  • add, subtract, multiply, or divide
Visual Understanding
  • see hidden patterns

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Leadership
  • Integrity
  • Initiative
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Dependability
  • Achievement/Effort

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Microsoft Dynamics Hot Technology
  • SAP software Hot Technology
Presentation software
  • Mentimeter
  • Microsoft PowerPoint Hot Technology In Demand
Accounting software
  • Intuit QuickBooks Hot Technology
  • Sage 50 Accounting

Education

Education: (rated 5 of 5)

Get started on your career:

Find Training Find Certifications Find Licenses Apprenticeship.gov

Job Outlook

Below Average Outlook
New job opportunities are less likely in the future.
Salary
$179,520
$60,300
$208,000+
Check out my state Local Salary Info Find Jobs

Explore More

See more details at O*NET OnLine about chief executives.