A chief executive officer (CEO) manages the organization which he or she administers, usually at a high or corporate level. As such, the day to day duties and activities of chief executive officers are widely varied. The responsibilities of a CEO usually include creating and directing the vision and strategy for an organization, and making decisions that affect the entire company.

A chief executive officer description might include the roles of leader, coach, and operational manager. Each of these areas may have a variety of wide-ranging responsibilities, depending on the industry, size, and other attributes of the company or corporation. For example, as leader, the CEO might work on creating a mission statement and an operating vision for the company. The CEO may then work with other executives, managers, or teams to develop a strategy and plan. The CEO may subsequently work, in the role of operational manager, to put in place a process to execute the plan.

Other activities in this role may include deciding on the priorities of projects and making high level decisions about operational, staffing, and resource allocation. Another important duty that a CEO may perform is facilitating the problem solving process. He or she may do this by directing the most appropriate staff and resources to work on solving major problems and issues encountered.

In the role of coach, the job description of a chief executive officer may include staffing duties. These could include items such as communicating the corporation’s vision and strategy to the staff, delegating responsibilities to teams or individuals, and holding people accountable for the responsibilities they are instructed to fulfill. A CEO may act as a mentor to staff within his or her company, advising them on career goals and effecting necessary job assignments where appropriate.

Chief executive officers may perform very different duties depending on the industry they work in and the size of the organization. For example, the duties of a hospital chief executive officer might include tasks that could require extremely specialized knowledge of medical procedures or medical law. A hospital CEO may need to make important financial decisions regarding where to allocate funding, which could have life and death implications for different groups of patients.

In addition, CEOs are in many cases the representatives of the organization. In this role they may need to interact with external bodies such as the media or government departments. The responsibilities of the CEO are usually large ones, and the chief executive officer salary generally reflects this level of responsibility.