5 ms·

>>Being a CEO is hard Not necessarily. It completely depends on the company and the industry.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
Yeah, some are harder than others but I can't think of a CEO job that isn't hard. It's always fraught with political risk, changing times, etc. etc.. From the 'inside' we might think it looks easy, we get a paycheque, it's all hunky-dory ... but from that top spot it's almost always hard.
- tomgp 8y ago
  How hard is it really though? If someone said to me: "you can either work in an Amazon warehouse (either shift 7.00am-5.30pm or 5.45pm-4.15am) or be the CEO of Amazon but you're going to get paid the same whichever you choose" I know which I'd do.
  - larrywright 8y ago
    Whether a job is hard or not depends on more than just how many hours you work and the physical aspect. Which of those jobs is more stressful? CEO, hands down. The decisions you make as a warehouse worker don’t matter all that much - if you make a bad one, the impact of that decision won’t be felt far. If the CEO makes a bad decision, it could lead to his removal, the failure of the company, huge financial losses, people losing their jobs. Just because something isn’t physically demanding doesn’t mean it’s not demanding.
    - tomgp 8y ago
      I’m sorry, no, I believe the precarious warehouse job is many times more stressful. Especially in the US where time off is limited and health care is essentially contingent on your employers goodwill. Stress is very often a function of lack of agency.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    You would be a reliable stock picker, surely, but you'd also run Amazon into the ground, probably. I think you are misinterpreting what 'hard' means.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >but I can't think of a CEO job that isn't hard. It's always fraught with political risk, changing times, etc. etc That makes it volatile, not hard. And the stakes are much less for volatility when you already have several cool million in the bank...
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    No, it makes it hard. The CEO of an Ambulance company I know has about 500 staff, he's been doing it for 25 years, it all seems like a smooth operation but they're constantly facing issues. Labour and training problems, international actors that won't pay and their governments won't help, shipping problems, supply chain problems. Liability issues. IP issues with some special things they do. Orders come in batches, they might have a down year and possibly have to play people off. And I'm not even getting into the very basics of product development, financing the working capital i.e. the regular stuff employees do. People who think CEO's just show up and wear suits and have meetings, and kiss up to the board ... I don't think have any exposure to what the job entails.
    - coldtea 8y ago
      Again, that's not hard as in big "physical or mental toll". Being a miner is hard. Being a surgeon is hard. Being a mathematician working on big problems is hard. A CEO compared is a walk in the park. All those issues you've mentioned ("Labour and training problems, international actors that won't pay and their governments won't help, shipping problems, supply chain problems") are there in any business (even in a single person shop).
- mikeash 8y ago
  I’m sure it’s hard if you’re a normal person with human feelings and take seriously your responsibility to your employees and shareholders. If you can avoid that, it must be a great job. Massive pay, no labor, people do what you say, and if you screw up the politics and get fired you’re still set for life. The implications of this are not great.
gitgud 8y ago
Well, regardless of the industry. Most people would consider the tasks of: -leading a company -dealing with finances -constantly making important decisions As a hard job.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  I hope that any company worth its salt has a CFO to deal with finances. Not that the CEO should be completely out of the loop (she has to sign off, after all). But if a CEO is dealing with nitty, gritty details if finances there's a severe delegation issue at best and a detail obsessed control-freak at worst.
  - gitgud 8y ago
    True, I was mainly referring to making decisions with company money, like how much to invest in resources and development. Not managing the accounting details.
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    No, there are many cases where the CEO will be involved in financial issues, especially where it will affect the company as a whole. A European company with major cash holdings may want to diversify currency, but that could be seen as speculative. The working capital requirements and details of the revolving loans they have from the bank. The list goes on.
- TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
  A stable company with good people will run itself. There may be execution issues, but the good people should be able to handle those. The value-adds from a good CEO are outstanding strategy, positive corporate brand creation, and investor/shareholder relationship management. The first two aren't hard in the bureaucratic sense, but in the creative sense. A lot of CEOs are terrible at them - see the long list of companies run into the ground by very poor decisions. The last one is helped a lot by having the correct class background. It's nightmarishly hard for outsiders, and can be anywhere from not hard at all to equally nightmarish for insiders.
- 8y ago
dx034 8y ago
Unless your company is small, being a CEO is hard. Knowing about all projects and developments in the company (often several hundred projects and initiatives) and deciding on which opportunities to take is not an easy job.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  Even when your company is small. I mean just the emotional pressure alone, you're still responsible for the well-being of however many employees you have, in addition to your own. No wonder a lot of top level executives are psychopaths, the emotional detachment must really help.

Yeah, some are harder than others but I can't think of a CEO job that isn't hard. It's always fraught with political risk, changing times, etc. etc.. From the 'inside' we might think it looks easy, we get a paycheque, it's all hunky-dory ... but from that top spot it's almost always hard.

tomgp 8y ago
How hard is it really though? If someone said to me: "you can either work in an Amazon warehouse (either shift 7.00am-5.30pm or 5.45pm-4.15am) or be the CEO of Amazon but you're going to get paid the same whichever you choose" I know which I'd do.
- larrywright 8y ago
  Whether a job is hard or not depends on more than just how many hours you work and the physical aspect. Which of those jobs is more stressful? CEO, hands down. The decisions you make as a warehouse worker don’t matter all that much - if you make a bad one, the impact of that decision won’t be felt far. If the CEO makes a bad decision, it could lead to his removal, the failure of the company, huge financial losses, people losing their jobs. Just because something isn’t physically demanding doesn’t mean it’s not demanding.
  - tomgp 8y ago
    I’m sorry, no, I believe the precarious warehouse job is many times more stressful. Especially in the US where time off is limited and health care is essentially contingent on your employers goodwill. Stress is very often a function of lack of agency.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  You would be a reliable stock picker, surely, but you'd also run Amazon into the ground, probably. I think you are misinterpreting what 'hard' means.
coldtea 8y ago
>but I can't think of a CEO job that isn't hard. It's always fraught with political risk, changing times, etc. etc That makes it volatile, not hard. And the stakes are much less for volatility when you already have several cool million in the bank...
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  No, it makes it hard. The CEO of an Ambulance company I know has about 500 staff, he's been doing it for 25 years, it all seems like a smooth operation but they're constantly facing issues. Labour and training problems, international actors that won't pay and their governments won't help, shipping problems, supply chain problems. Liability issues. IP issues with some special things they do. Orders come in batches, they might have a down year and possibly have to play people off. And I'm not even getting into the very basics of product development, financing the working capital i.e. the regular stuff employees do. People who think CEO's just show up and wear suits and have meetings, and kiss up to the board ... I don't think have any exposure to what the job entails.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    Again, that's not hard as in big "physical or mental toll". Being a miner is hard. Being a surgeon is hard. Being a mathematician working on big problems is hard. A CEO compared is a walk in the park. All those issues you've mentioned ("Labour and training problems, international actors that won't pay and their governments won't help, shipping problems, supply chain problems") are there in any business (even in a single person shop).
mikeash 8y ago
I’m sure it’s hard if you’re a normal person with human feelings and take seriously your responsibility to your employees and shareholders. If you can avoid that, it must be a great job. Massive pay, no labor, people do what you say, and if you screw up the politics and get fired you’re still set for life. The implications of this are not great.

gitgud 8y ago

Well, regardless of the industry. Most people would consider the tasks of: -leading a company -dealing with finances -constantly making important decisions As a hard job.

CaptainZapp 8y ago
I hope that any company worth its salt has a CFO to deal with finances. Not that the CEO should be completely out of the loop (she has to sign off, after all). But if a CEO is dealing with nitty, gritty details if finances there's a severe delegation issue at best and a detail obsessed control-freak at worst.
- gitgud 8y ago
  True, I was mainly referring to making decisions with company money, like how much to invest in resources and development. Not managing the accounting details.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  No, there are many cases where the CEO will be involved in financial issues, especially where it will affect the company as a whole. A European company with major cash holdings may want to diversify currency, but that could be seen as speculative. The working capital requirements and details of the revolving loans they have from the bank. The list goes on.
TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
A stable company with good people will run itself. There may be execution issues, but the good people should be able to handle those. The value-adds from a good CEO are outstanding strategy, positive corporate brand creation, and investor/shareholder relationship management. The first two aren't hard in the bureaucratic sense, but in the creative sense. A lot of CEOs are terrible at them - see the long list of companies run into the ground by very poor decisions. The last one is helped a lot by having the correct class background. It's nightmarishly hard for outsiders, and can be anywhere from not hard at all to equally nightmarish for insiders.
8y ago

dx034 8y ago

Unless your company is small, being a CEO is hard. Knowing about all projects and developments in the company (often several hundred projects and initiatives) and deciding on which opportunities to take is not an easy job.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
Even when your company is small. I mean just the emotional pressure alone, you're still responsible for the well-being of however many employees you have, in addition to your own. No wonder a lot of top level executives are psychopaths, the emotional detachment must really help.