What does a CEO do?

Forums › Off topic › What does a CEO do?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Mad Scientist
29827 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6089

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1561460 28-May-2016 23:12

MaxLV:

blakamin:

As little as possible.

For as much money as possible.

CEO's 'salaries' are justified because of the 'hard work they do making money'. So often it's claimed (by those that defend these salaries) you have to pay millions to the 'right person' to make the profits the shareholders want. If you pay peanuts, you'll only get monkeys, and no profits.

But when it comes to paying the people in the companies that *actually* do the work and earn the money for the companies, you have to pay them as little as possible (peanuts) for for the maximum amount of work you can get out of them.

That capitalism for ya....

well there was this guy called Dan Price ...

Geektastic

17960 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8377

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1561462 28-May-2016 23:21

MaxLV:

blakamin:

As little as possible.

For as much money as possible.

CEO's 'salaries' are justified because of the 'hard work they do making money'. So often it's claimed (by those that defend these salaries) you have to pay millions to the 'right person' to make the profits the shareholders want. If you pay peanuts, you'll only get monkeys, and no profits.

But when it comes to paying the people in the companies that *actually* do the work and earn the money for the companies, you have to pay them as little as possible (peanuts) for for the maximum amount of work you can get out of them.

That capitalism for ya....

I would have said doing as little as possible for as much as possible is most people's aim in life....

Geektastic

17960 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8377

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1561463 28-May-2016 23:23

blackjack17:

MikeB4: Summed up easily, they earn every dollar they are paid and more. They have huge responsibilities that don't end when they go home. They don't work 40 hours they work 70, 80, 90+ hours per week.

ahh so they are like teachers (well except for the huge salary)

And the 16 weeks a year holiday...

Geektastic

17960 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8377

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1561464 28-May-2016 23:26

The one thing a good CEO should have - I take MBA level business management skills etc as read in this context - is vision.

The ability to see the way forward, the gaps that exist and how to exploit them to the company's (and thus the shareholders) pecuniary advantage, the ability to identify key people who can provide the continual step changes and improvements required to dominate the field, whatever it is.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1561478 29-May-2016 08:03

The "O" seems to be going out of favour in some organisations. I preferred MD, but it confused the yanks.

The ridiculous salaries are the inevitable result of how it works these days - it's what you get with cronyism in the boardroom compounded by the fact that once upon a time private shareholders in listed companies really gave a f%&# and could garner support at AGMs etc to hold them to account. Now the shareholders are fund managers for your pension scheme, kiwisaver etc, those managers don't want to rock the boat on salaries because it's not in their own self-interest.

$5m salaries in NZ etc "justified by all the hard work"? I don't believe so - it's quite obscene.

MikeB4

18464 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12124

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1561481 29-May-2016 08:13

Fred99:
The "O" seems to be going out of favour in some organisations. I preferred MD, but it confused the yanks.

The ridiculous salaries are the inevitable result of how it works these days - it's what you get with cronyism in the boardroom compounded by the fact that once upon a time private shareholders in listed companies really gave a f%&# and could garner support at AGMs etc to hold them to account. Now the shareholders are fund managers for your pension scheme, kiwisaver etc, those managers don't want to rock the boat on salaries because it's not in their own self-interest.

$5m salaries in NZ etc "justified by all the hard work"? I don't believe so - it's quite obscene.

The term MD (Managing Director) is not always appropriate as a CEO is not necessarily a Director.

As for NZ CEOs salaries are you saying they don't work as hard because they are New Zealanders? If so that is nonsense.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1561486 29-May-2016 08:43

MikeB4:
Fred99:

The "O" seems to be going out of favour in some organisations. I preferred MD, but it confused the yanks.

The ridiculous salaries are the inevitable result of how it works these days - it's what you get with cronyism in the boardroom compounded by the fact that once upon a time private shareholders in listed companies really gave a f%&# and could garner support at AGMs etc to hold them to account. Now the shareholders are fund managers for your pension scheme, kiwisaver etc, those managers don't want to rock the boat on salaries because it's not in their own self-interest.

$5m salaries in NZ etc "justified by all the hard work"? I don't believe so - it's quite obscene.

The term MD (Managing Director) is not always appropriate as a CEO is not necessarily a Director.

...in which case there's a perfectly adequate but less lofty sounding title - GM

MikeB4:

As for NZ CEOs salaries are you saying they don't work as hard because they are New Zealanders? If so that is nonsense.

How did you come up with that?

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

blackjack17

1711 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 864

#1561501 29-May-2016 08:59

Geektastic:
blackjack17:

MikeB4: Summed up easily, they earn every dollar they are paid and more. They have huge responsibilities that don't end when they go home. They don't work 40 hours they work 70, 80, 90+ hours per week.

ahh so they are like teachers (well except for the huge salary)

And the 16 weeks a year holiday...

12-13 weeks with 80,000 cap. I don't know where people get that 16 weeks from?

That being said the jobs aren't comparable. I was just being checky as the description did also describe a teachers role

Electric kiwi signup credit Sharesies credit

SJB

2945 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#1561503 29-May-2016 09:04

A lot of CEO's salaries are performance based so there will be a base salary and bonuses based on perhaps share price. Part of the salary may also be in the form of shares or pension contributions.

Of course the problem with bonuses is they only go one way - to the recipient. They never flow back to the company when the ship starts to sink.

CEO's salaries in NZ are low compared to many other countries.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1561538 29-May-2016 09:35

SJB:

Of course the problem with bonuses is they only go one way - to the recipient. They never flow back to the company when the ship starts to sink.

It's often even worse than that. Not unusual for those bonuses to be based on somewhat more vague measures than financial performance. It's not unusual that performance incentives / bonuses for lower level staff will be directly tied to financial performance over which they have only limited control. The CE may be rewarded for effectively "trying hard under the circumstances". It can get very messy.

MikeB4

18464 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12124

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1561543 29-May-2016 09:54

Fred99:
MikeB4:
Fred99:

The "O" seems to be going out of favour in some organisations. I preferred MD, but it confused the yanks.

The ridiculous salaries are the inevitable result of how it works these days - it's what you get with cronyism in the boardroom compounded by the fact that once upon a time private shareholders in listed companies really gave a f%&# and could garner support at AGMs etc to hold them to account. Now the shareholders are fund managers for your pension scheme, kiwisaver etc, those managers don't want to rock the boat on salaries because it's not in their own self-interest.

$5m salaries in NZ etc "justified by all the hard work"? I don't believe so - it's quite obscene.

The term MD (Managing Director) is not always appropriate as a CEO is not necessarily a Director.

...in which case there's a perfectly adequate but less lofty sounding title - GM

MikeB4:

As for NZ CEOs salaries are you saying they don't work as hard because they are New Zealanders? If so that is nonsense.

How did you come up with that?

The pay thing You said it your own post.

GM and CEO are different jobs

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1561553 29-May-2016 10:26

MikeB4:
Fred99:

MikeB4:
Fred99:

The "O" seems to be going out of favour in some organisations. I preferred MD, but it confused the yanks.

The ridiculous salaries are the inevitable result of how it works these days - it's what you get with cronyism in the boardroom compounded by the fact that once upon a time private shareholders in listed companies really gave a f%&# and could garner support at AGMs etc to hold them to account. Now the shareholders are fund managers for your pension scheme, kiwisaver etc, those managers don't want to rock the boat on salaries because it's not in their own self-interest.

$5m salaries in NZ etc "justified by all the hard work"? I don't believe so - it's quite obscene.

The term MD (Managing Director) is not always appropriate as a CEO is not necessarily a Director.

...in which case there's a perfectly adequate but less lofty sounding title - GM

MikeB4:

As for NZ CEOs salaries are you saying they don't work as hard because they are New Zealanders? If so that is nonsense.

How did you come up with that?

The pay thing You said it your own post.

GM and CEO are different jobs

No I didn't - just because I said:

"$5m salaries in NZ etc "justified by all the hard work"? I don't believe so - it's quite obscene. "

shouldn't be taken to mean that at all. Obscene salary levels certainly aren't unique to NZ - it's worse in some places o'seas.

I don't fret much over titles. In my last job as associate vice-president of the progressive strategy and global futuring division, nobody knew WTF I was supposed to be doing, including me, so I was free to get on with my main purpose in the organisation - which was Chief Troublemaker.

DaveDog

336 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 169

#1561579 29-May-2016 10:55

I'm not a CEO and never have been...

But anyone that thinks it's a walk in the park really needs the opportunity to give it a whirl - it isn't... And while there are some blatantly useless freeloading examples of CEOs out there - there are also the hardworking examples that live, breath, think the role 24/7 - Those examples earn every cent... The useless freeloaders don't...

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1561622 29-May-2016 12:16

DaveDog:

I'm not a CEO and never have been...

But anyone that thinks it's a walk in the park really needs the opportunity to give it a whirl - it isn't...

Ummmm... there's a lack of logical flow in those two consecutive statements. How would you know (it's not a walk in the park)?

But I do like the idea of making a reality TV show "Undercover Wage-Slave" - based on your suggestion.

DaveDog

336 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 169

#1561686 29-May-2016 14:45

I work at a level where I deal with CEO's and other high level executives - I've seen it first hand...

Fred99:

DaveDog:

I'm not a CEO and never have been...

But anyone that thinks it's a walk in the park really needs the opportunity to give it a whirl - it isn't...

Ummmm... there's a lack of logical flow in those two consecutive statements. How would you know (it's not a walk in the park)?

But I do like the idea of making a reality TV show "Undercover Wage-Slave" - based on your suggestion.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6