You're exactly right about the effects on the company as a whole. A CEO is like a cheerleader and ship's captain for a company. Nilay Patel over at The Verge s

You're exactly right about the effects on the company as a whole. A CEO is like a cheerleader and ship's captain for a company. Nilay Patel over at The Verge said on one of their podcasts he once asked Satya Nadella what it was like to be the CEO of a company as large as Microsoft. Nadella told him being CEO meant telling a big-picture vision to the press and the company over and over again until everyone started going in that direction.