CEOs, the powerful leaders in business who make tough decisions for the good of their company, they are the richest men in the World and some of the most important and the line between success and failure for many of the World’s CEOs is incredibly thin. What is it though that defines success and failure in the role of a Chief Executive Officer? 

There will be many of you out there who are looking at setting up your own company or perhaps already have one, with dreams of become a rich and powerful CEO. We are going to take a look at how success and failure is measured and more importantly what you need to do to succeed. 

 Be an Expert

Having a great business or an excellent product does not a good CEO make, without being an expert or at least seeking to be an expert you could be on course for failure no matter how good your business is. Joseph Johnson Welfont’s CEO for example has worked tirelessly for over 30 years leaning about management, entrepreneurship and the inner workings of his industry in order to gain the success that he has achieved. This is the kind of dedication you will need to succeed, those who think they can simply create a great product or service and take it to the masses are sure to fail as a CEO if they don’t truly understand their industry.

 

Understanding When and How

The most powerful and successful CEOs in this World are masters of timing, they have an understanding of when to take decisions and how to follow them through. The key to success in most industries is timing, timing of a product launch, timing of a hike in prices, timing of a change in staffing or timing growth. Many would-be CEOs fail through a lack of understanding of great timing and in order to possess this you need knowledge of the industry you’re in and you need to be ready to listen to the advice of others whether it be your board, your team or your clients.

 

The Ability to Listen

Decision making is one of the key components of being a CEO and in order to make sound decisions you need ensure that you have considered all angles of the choices that you have in front of you. One of the most important aspects in this process is seeking the counsel of others, if you think that you can take everything on yourself then you will fail, the responsibility for the decision stops with you but the tools to make that decision are in the people that you have surrounded yourself with.

 

Over Confidence

Many CEOs fail through being overly optimistic with growth or they try to reinvent the wheel when it isn’t necessary. It is always important to have a projection for your company’s growth but it is important not to jump the gun. If you try to expand to soon then this can cost you and your business a lot of money if you fail, the importance here is to be strategic, stick to your plans and only push for growth when it looks like the right way to go. Allowing small success to go to the head of your business could prove to be fatal once you expand.

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].