What A CEO Does… Part II

June 2, 2011

Last August I wrote a blog titled “What a CEO Does… and Larry Ellison” after reading a blog by Fred Wilson titled “What a CEO Does”.

Last week I came across a follow on blog that technology and marketing entrepreneur Matt Blumberg wrote titled “What Does a CEO Do, Anyway?”. Matt added some more depth and color based on his actual experiences that I wanted share with you this week.

Matt adds three corollaries to Fred’s three responsibilities of the CEO which are:

  • Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates to all stakeholders
  • Recruits, hires and retains the very best talent for the company
  • Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank

Then Matt discusses three behaviors a CEO has to embody to be successful:

  • Don’t be a bottle neck
  • Run great meetings
  • Keep yourself fresh

As a former operational software executive for over 25 years and now a venture partner that works with CEOs and Management teams after OpenView Partners invests growth capital, I can tell you that I enjoy working with CEOs who have these skills and I also enjoy helping CEOs develop these skills.

I enjoyed Matt’s perspective and I hope you will too.

All the best!

G

Venture Partner

<strong>George Roberts</strong> is a Venture Partner at OpenView. He enjoys partnering with companies and helping them achieve their goals through strategy, focus and operational execution. From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as Executive Vice President of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and more than 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.