Chapter
Culture: four dimensions of the social arena
Your chosen sphere of influence
3 The Talent Imperative – All CXOs must strengthen the company’s talent pool
Get organized, stay organized
Clear versus ambiguous message
The CXO as chief seller of the deal’
What about the non-negotiators?
What’s in it for the CXO?
4 The Learning Imperative – Going offline to improve performance
From action to reflection
Sharpening the discomfort
From reflection to new perspective
Shaping the learning context
Modelling productive learning behaviour
From new perspective to decision
Securing the necessary resources
5 The Chief Marketing Officer – Creating, delivering and communicating value to customers
The role of the chief marketing officer
The evolving role of marketing
The roles of the chief marketing officer
Integrating traditional and innovative marketing technology
Measurement challenges facing the marketing specialist CMO
The leadership role of the marketing specialist
Developing distribution channels
Providing an effective, central marketing function
Challenges facing the customer advocate
The leadership role of the customer advocate
Providing solutions not selling products
Adopting a collaborative approach
Rationalizing and strengthening brands
The strategic contributor
Strategic contributor role
The CMO and corporate strategy
What value do our businesses add to each other, and which are the most significant relationships between our business units?
What is the role of the corporate centre?
Challenges facing the strategic contributor
Building and articulating a broad view of the business
Driving an integrated marketing system
Providing in-house expertise
The leadership role of the strategic contributor
Encouraging radical innovations that drive the market (and not vice versa)
Transforming the business
The CMO’s key relationships
The CMO and other senior executives
The chief financial officer
The chief technology officer
The chief information officer
The chief executive officer
SECTION II The CXOs: Within the Functions
6 The Chief Sales Officer – Sell, sell, sell!
The role of the chief sales officer
Case study 1 – The missing strategy
Case study 2 – The uniformed sales force
CSO roles in different types of organizations
Sell to anyone and everyone, anywhere and everywhere
Premium pricing the professionals’ choice
The CSO’s leadership role
Providing direction and focus
Ensuring efficiency and effectiveness
The CSO and their colleagues on the CXO team
The future of the CSO’s role
7 The Chief Supply Chain Officer – Designing and managing lean and agile supply chains
The operations management task
The emergence of the senior leadership role chief supply chain officer (CSCO)
The CSCO as designer and manager of the supply chain
The top-line design challenges faced by the CSCO
Learning about and adapting to the market
Managing insourcing and outsourcing decisions
Balancing integration levels within the supply chain
What level of integration and management to apply?
How to integrate the supply chain
Putting the design into operation
Mapping and managing supply chain processes
Building and balancing information visibility using IT
Promoting collaboration and building trust
Balancing the dual targets of leanness and agility
Monitoring and reporting on supply chain performance
The future of the CSCO leadership role
A continued geographical expansion of markets
Continued customer pressures for individualized solutions
Building partnerships based on innovation, flexibility and speed
Managing product developments and introductions faster
Building modularity into the supply chain
Managing product developments and introductions faster
Advancement in and integration of information and communication technologies
Environmentally sound supply chain management
Handling reverse logistics
Just-in-time manufacturing
8 The Chief Manufacturing Officer – Process execution, improvement and design
The role of the chief manufacturing officer
The chief manufacturing officer as process designer
Designing process strategies
Drawing the factory layout
Designing the technology platform
Computer numerical control (CNC)
Automated guided vehicles (AGVs)
Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS)
Computer-aided design (CAD)
Computer-aided process planning (CAPP)
Mapping planning and control into the available IT infrastructure
The chief manufacturing officer as process improver
The chief manufacturing officer as process executor
Planning the transformation process
Controlling the transformation process
The future role of the chief manufacturing officer
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
The transformation process
9 The Chief Financial Officer – A capital position
The role of the chief financial officer
General Motors and the evolution of the finance function
The financial management mindset
Enabling the optimal use of capital to maximize shareholder value
Financial infrastructure and performance measurement
The CFO’s leadership role
Providing direction and focus
Ensuring efficiency and effectiveness
Relationships with other senior executives
The CFO and the business unit (BU) head
The CFO and the board of directors
The future of the CFO role
Effective administration and efficiency: doing more with less
Integrity and credibility
Operational understanding and a service mindset
Communication skills, relationship skills, empathy and personal energy
The role of the CFO during difficult times
10 The Chief Technology Officer – Corporate navigator, agent of change and entrepreneur
Chief technology officer/chief research officer: A common origin in the R&D function
CTO/CRO: a common interest despite different titles
Supervise R&D activities and guard intellectual property (IP)
Manage the deployment of scientific and technical staff
Allocate corporate funds to strategic R&D programmes
Advise CEOs, boards and top management colleagues
The changing role of the CTO/CRO: from managing to leading
Instilling a sense of purpose in the role of science and technology
Providing a sense of direction in science and technology
Formulating a vision for technology
Envisaging the future regarding technology (the ‘harder’ side of a vision)
Developing a core ideology regarding technology (the ‘softer’ side of a vision)
Enforcing a sense of focus on technology
The emerging role of corporate entrepreneur’
Facing the challenge as part of the top executive team
A unique leadership profile
11 The Chief Information Officer – Achieving credibility, relevance and business impact
The role of the chief information officer
The journey from cost control to business value
The quest for business credibility, relevance and impact
Manager of IT resources and operations
The CIO as an enabler of business change
Strategic business player and part of the senior management team
Influencing the business strategy: moving from good to great
Avoiding disorientation: information orientation at work
The future of the CIO leadership role
Information orientation (IO)
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
12 The Chief Human Resources Officer – Delivering people who can deliver
The service provider: managing the talent pipeline
Spot/recruit the raw talent
Pre-emptive training and development
Performance improvement interventions
Culture/fit interventions
Career discussions and planning for the future
Compensation for contribution: the deal
What are the key components of the deal, and,
Dilemmas in managing the talent pipeline
The change master: advice and implementation
Simplifying the structure
The strategic contributor: anticipating needs and facilitating major decisions
Anticipating strategic needs
Assessing growth possibilities
Implementation of expansion plans
Counsel on top-level appointments
Facilitator of effective senior relationships
The qualities needed to handle the tensions
13 The Corporate Governance Officer – From company secretary to manager of governance processes
The role of the corporate governance officer
Historical influences on corporate governance
Corporate governance in the US
The US corporate governance earthquake
The UK system: The role of the company secretary (more on ICSA)
The CGO in practice: four types of roles
The future of the corporate governance officer
Board information improvements
Delivered by old-fashioned channels
External and internal compliance management
Managing the governance process
What must be brought to the attention of the board?
14 The Chief Communications Officer – Leading strategic communications
The role of the chief communications officer
History: from propaganda to communications
The present: current preoccupations
The future: the strategic communication imperative
Tool #1: The company story
Tool #2: The functional integration matrix
A new set of skills for the CCO
Mastering the traditional communications methods
Business understanding and capabilities
Communications plan (-ning)
Corporate or Company Story
15 The SBU President – Perhaps the best job for the CEO-in-training
The role of the strategic business unit president
Strategic business unit forms
The purpose of the SBU president
The SBU president’s leadership role
The SBU president’s challenges
The SBU president and their colleagues on the CXO team
The future of the SBU president’s role
SBU strategic business unit
16 CXOs and the Line – Serving the internal customer
Why line managers hate CXOs
Put the client’s business imperatives at the top of the agenda
Ensure mutual expectations are understood and agreed
Specify the business reasons
Leverage network contacts
Investing for the long term
Propose and manage staff-line exchanges
Propose and facilitate pilot projects
SECTION III The CEO and the Leadership Team – Pulling it all together
17 From CXO to CEO – The weight of accountability
The CEO: many people to influence, and it’s lonely work
Strategic and operational responsibilities
Which CXOs get good experience as originators?
Which CXOs get good experience as designers?
Which CXOs get good experience as energizers?
Which CXOs get good experience as integrators?
Which CXOs get good experience as protectors?
Bridging the gap: from CXO to CEO
18 The Chief Executive Officer – Orchestrating the whole
Evolution of the CEO role
Internally generated growth
Acquisition-driven growth
Preserving core capabilities
Outsourcing internationally
19 Relations Among CXOs – Competing priorities spell trouble
Combining different perspectives
Marketing versus manufacturing
Conflict becomes personal
How top teams differ from other teams
Teams are not an ideology
20 The Top Team – From executive group to executive team
The pecking order’ challenge
The balancing act’ challenge
The narrow thinking’ challenge
Alignment with the company’s sense of purpose
Alignment with the company’s direction
Alignment with the company’s focus
21 Summary: the CXO Challenge – Wealth creation by the executive team
Building capability for wealth creation
Leading within the function
Managing current operations
From results today to results tomorrow
Purposeful CXO collaboration
Teamwork, yes: but individuals make the difference
Leading in the Top Team
：The CXO Challenge
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