Current Events > What do CEO's actually do? A Beginner's Guide for Socialists

(+) Yeah! (+)

This comes up frequently in averagejoel's topics where he and the other socialists/communists discuss CEOs like caracateurs who "work 4 hours a day," "push papers," "play golf," and "aren't needed."

So here's a primer on what what they actually do, courtesy of Freaknomics. This is a great podcast, but the written transcript is also available.

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/c-e-o-actually/

BLOOM: Im Nicholas Bloom. Im a professor of economics at Stanford University.

DUBNER: We are doing a multi-part series on C.E.O.s So let me ask you an incredibly rudimentary question. What does a C.E.O. actually do? Because, everybody knows what a C.E.O. is, but I would argue that most of us really have almost no idea what a C.E.O. actually does, both on a day-to-day and on a year-to-year basis.

BLOOM: Their mandate is theyre part-public figure. If anything goes wrong or right with the company, theyre the man or woman standing up in the press taking the flak or the praise. spend about a day a week talking to Wall Street and other big investors. They also spend a huge amount of time on personnel management, human resources. Generally theyll have 5 to 10 direct reports, people theyll see once a week that work the chief of finance, the chief of H.R., the chief of information Its much more the coach if you think of a football team, its very much like that with C.E.O.s. In some ways, theyre the masterminds behind the scene. But they dont actually throw the ball or actually have their hands directly involved in the business.

DUBNER: Most people, when they hear the term C.E.O., probably think of big firms such as PepsiCo and Microsoft and Facebook, and so on, but just to be clear the median C.E.O. in America, at least, has probably what, four or five employees?

BLOOM: Its an amazing fact when people mention C.E.O. they think of an older white man in charge of a company of 10,000 people. In fact there are 6 million companies in America. The median company, so the 50th percentile, has three employees and the most common company size has one. Actually, almost every C.E.O. out there that youre going to meet is going to be in charge of 5 or 10 people.

Whats the first thing that comes to mind when I say C.E.O.? For many people, the image is a caricature: either supervillain or superhero. At the very least, you probably envision a luxe life with 100 rounds of golf a year.

SONNENFELD: C.E.O.s work harder today than ever before.

Thats Jeff Sonnenfeld from the Yale School of Management. Hes spent more than 30 years scrutinizing C.E.O.s.

SONNENFELD: These arent people that are hanging out and golfing and running around country clubs and sipping on their sherries at late afternoon. These are people that are working nonstop, 40-hour days, eight days a week.

That is Raffaella Sadun. Shes an economist who teaches at Harvard Business School.

SADUN: Im very interested in understanding how management and managers affect firm performance.

So how much time does a C.E.O. spend on their own, thinking blue-sky thoughts?

SADUN: There is very little time that goes into thinking alone or being in their solitary office and looking outside the window. We tend to think about the C.E.O. sitting in an ivory tower, deciding what the organization will do,, and then, boom! They make a decision and the decision just happens, and everybodys happy. But there is so much variation in how well firms adopt even the very basics of management that you cant ignore it. Thats not below the pay grade of the C.E.O. Its very important that the C.E.O. keeps in mind both the strategic and the operational aspects of their jobs.

Please tag the usual socialists who never seem to understand. Also, averagejoel has me on ignore, so please definitely tag him also.
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Get a life.
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Y'all take this board way too seriously tbh
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why are all of your topics so condescending?
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MC_BatCommander posted...

Y'all take this board way too seriously tbh

I wouldnt expect less from Admiral though.
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Junkratprime03 posted...

Get a life.

MC_BatCommander posted...

Y'all take this board way too seriously tbh

Admiral often makes topics that seem to be targeted for their controversy, but he's got a point here.

I often see people talking about CEOs and executives as if their job was to sunbathe and yell out orders. It's a stressful as fuck job and they earn all (well, most, some loopholes are basically legalized fraud) of what they make
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@FLUFFYGERM

since you frequently have to deal with this topic.
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I skimmed through that and saw 100 rounds of golf a year.
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SomeonesAlt posted...

I often see people talking about CEOs and executives as if their job was to sunbathe and yell out orders. It's a stressful as f*** job and they earn all (well, most, some loopholes are basically legalized fraud) of what they make

It's just as silly to think that all CEOs earn all of what they make as it is to think that they all sunbathe and yell out orders.
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No one says they don't work. They say they are overcompensated. You can argue that the CEO does twice as much work as a regular employee, but he doesnt get paid twice as much. He gets several times more.

I used to work at a big fortune 100 company, and I can tell you the CEOs did nothing but made things worse. The people doing and securing the million dollar deals we're us. The people actually working the orders. Securing the logistics. Making everything possible.
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Squall28 posted...

No one says they don't work. They say they are overcompensated.

this.

but addy wont let that get in the way of his shitposting
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E32005 posted...

Squall28 posted...

No one says they don't work. They say they are overcompensated.

this.

but addy wont let that get in the way of his shitposting

Actually, many people say they don't work hard, and the actual communists say they're not even necessary.
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The Admiral posted...

E32005 posted...

Squall28 posted...

No one says they don't work. They say they are overcompensated.

this.

but addy wont let that get in the way of his shitposting

Actually, many people say they don't work hard, and the actual communists say they're not even necessary.

A lot of them are value negative. My company had a string of bad CEOs who got golden parachutes after fucking us over.
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great topic and we need more information out there about what CEOs do

because most of them are absolute workaholics that have more efficiency in their pinky than any of us do in our whole bodies

because they are absolutely crazy people who want to work 24/7 all. the. time.

The Admiral posted...

40-hour days, eight days a week.

Hmmmm.
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Squall28 posted...

A lot of them are value negative.

Lol
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E32005 posted...

Squall28 posted...

No one says they don't work. They say they are overcompensated.

this.

but addy wont let that get in the way of his shitposting

they get paid that much because there are only so many people who can do the job

labor supply is low, ergo rates go up

not hard

The posted...

These are people that are working nonstop, 40-hour days, eight days a week.

We fucking get it's a hard job(riding a C.E.O.'s D) but it does a disservice to your point to exaggerate this so much.
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SK8T3R215 posted...

Squall28 posted...

A lot of them are value negative.

Lol

Bad leaders exist. Germany would've been much better off if Hitler didn't exist.

You guys also overestimate their influence. In large corporations, the actual ground force can operate fine without direction for a long time. There are several leaders already in place. The company doesn't just stop running if the CEO is absent.

And yes, there is a lot of important work a CEO must do. I'm not denying that. I'm saying there's a lot the CEO can fuck up too. Hence, bad ones are value negative.
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Why did you delete this from NFLB
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And they still don't deserve to make as much as they do.
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27_Sandman_40 posted...

@averagejoel

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E32005 posted...

why are all of your topics so condescending?

Underrated post