The fact is most people feel a tinge of awe when someone has the CEO title. More importantly we are impressed by what comes along with that title: the power, the salary, and the chance to be “The Boss”. Indeed it is worthy of awe!

Unfortunately not everyone who has this title is cut out for the job or even the ones who hold the title, it can be argued are not really good at what they do.  Some are not even aware of what the job entails and those who do have a difficult time pulling it off.  So the question is therefore, what really is the job of a CEO?

Probably more than with any other job, the responsibilities of a CEO diverge from the duties and the measurement. The fact is, quite simply the CEO is responsible for everything, especially in a startup. The CEO is responsible for the success or failure of the company. Operations, marketing, strategy, financing, creation of company culture, human resources, hiring, firing, compliance with safety regulations, sales, PR, and the list goes on – it all falls on his/her shoulders.

The CEO’s duties are what he or she actually does, the responsibilities that are not delegated to someone else. Some responsibilities should not and cannot be delegated. Creating culture, building the senior management team, strategic planning, long term (and short term) goal-setting, indeed, the execution of certain function can only be done at the very top.

What is the CEO’s main duty? – setting strategy and vision. The senior management team can help develop strategy. Investors can approve a business plan. But the CEO ultimately sets the direction. Which markets will the company enter? Against which competitors? With what product lines? How will the company differentiate itself? The CEO decides, sets budgets, forms partnerships, and hires a team to steer the company accordingly.

The CEO’s second duty is building culture. Work gets done through people, and people are profoundly affected by culture. A lousy place to work can drive away high performers. After all, they have their pick of places to work. And a great place to work can attract and retain the very best.

Culture is built in several ways, and the CEO sets the tone. His or her every action—or inaction—sends cultural messages. Clothes send signals about how formal the workplace is. Who he or she talks to signals who is and isn’t important. How he or she treats mistakes sends signals about risk-taking. Who he or she fires, what is put up with, and what is rewarded shapes the culture powerfully.

Let’s say a project team worked weekends launching a multimedia web site on a tight deadline. Their CEO was on holiday when the site launched. He or she didn’t call to congratulate the team or get a last minute update. To the CEO, it was a matter of keeping his or her personal life sacred. To the team, it was a message that personal life was more important than the weekends and evenings they had put in to meet the deadline. Next time, they may not work quite so hard. The emotion and effect on the culture is very real, even if it wasn’t what the CEO intended. Congratulations from the CEO on a job well done can motivate a team like nothing else. Silence can demotivate just as quickly.

Team-building is the CEO’s #3 duty. The CEO hires, fires, and leads the senior management team. They, in turn, hire, fire, and lead the rest of the organization. The CEO must be able to hire and fire non-performers. He or she must resolve differences between senior team members, and keep them working together in a common direction. The CEO sets direction by communicating the strategy and vision of where the company is going. Strategy sets a direction. With clear direction, the team can rally together and make it happen.

Keith Duncan, JMMB group chief executive officer

If vision is where the company is going, values tell how the company gets there. Values outline acceptable behavior. The CEO conveys values through actions and reactions to others. Companies such as JMMB (who has the tenth ranked CEO on this list) are famous for the corporate values they espouse. JMMB continues to be guided by the principle ‘vision + values = phenomenal success.’ People take their cues about interpersonal values such as trust, honesty, openness, etc. from CEO and his or her actions as well.

Capital allocation is the CEO’s #4 duty. The CEO sets budgets within the firm. He or she funds projects which support the strategy, and ramps down projects which lose money or don’t support the strategy. He or she considers carefully the company’s major expenditures, and manages the firm’s capital. If the company can’t use each dollar raised from investors to produce at least $1 of shareholder value, the CEO decides when to return money to the investors. Some CEOs don’t consider themselves financial people, but at the end of the day, it is their decisions that determine the company’s financial fate.

The management of these functions ultimately contribute to the failure or success of the company he or she manages. This is why the CEO’s duties require that he is responsible for all aspects of the business. This year’s Top 10 CEOs have made it here by no small feat. They have clearly managed their duties and responsibilities to the highest standard. BM