Description
This is the first international analysis of the Acquired Skills and Working Methods of over 100 Chief ExecutivesWHO IS A CHIEF EXECUTIVE?He may have the title Chairman, Managing Director, President, General Manager or something equivalent. He may run a holding company or an operating subsidiary, an independent business or a semi-autonomous divi- sion or branch. If he is responsible for the main decisions of a viable unit of enterprise with its own operating accounts, and if he has to coordinate the work of colleagues who report to him, then he is a chief executive.DOES SIZE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?This survey covered firms ranging in size from well under 100 employees to over 400,000. It became clear that a chief executive needs the same basic self-disciplines and skills, and he needs to follow out the same principles of organization, regardless of size of firm. As one chief executive pointed out, "the small group is really what matters in a business hierarchy, be- cause it is only small groups at each level all the way up or down". And another chief, who began with a small business and is now in charge of a very large one, said: "Running a big show is the same as a smaller one only you have more 0's on the end".The responsibility is different but the work problems are similar.EXPERIENCE AS A CHIEF EXECUTIVEIn 1959 George Copeman's book "The Role of the Managing Director" was published and became an instant British best-seller. Since then he has had several years' experience as a managing director and latterly as a chairman. His new book "The Chief Executive" is the result of applying this experience to making a detailed enquiry into how 103 chief executives operate in a wide variety of sizes and types of firms-mining, manufacturing, retail and other service.
