Whether you’re a CEO of a multinational corporation or a pre-launch startup, a good deal of your time will be spent thinking about, and then setting, your organisation’s vision and strategy. You’ll also be considering how to lead the business, from the most junior positions right up to fellow members of the C-suite.
But what does this mean for a leader? How would you lead a fellow C-level executive, and how would that differ from the rest of the workforce? It’s a big question. Unlike other employees, the C-suite members are responsible for entire functions of the business – finance, operations, technology, marketing, and so on – and therefore demand the power to make high-level decisions and be your strategic partners.
But it’s too simplistic to see it simply as a CEO-to-C-suite relationship, given that each position in the C-suite is unique. So, to that end, I’ll look at a few specific CEO relationships, most notably with the COO, CFO, CMO and CIO, and I’ll give my view on how we might better understand the dynamics involved.
Leading the C-suite – an overview
As a CEO, your approach to leading the C-suite will focus on alignment, accountability and collaboration, along with ensuring each executive understands the company’s long-term vision and their role in achieving it. Regular strategic discussions with C-level leaders allow the CEO to guide overarching initiatives and align individual departmental goals, creating cohesion at the top that trickles down to other levels of the organisation.
Let’s look at these key principles in more detail.
- Vision: The CEO’s primary responsibility in leading the C-suite team is to establish a compelling vision that resonates across departments. Each C-level leader must understand and align their department’s objectives with the overarching company vision.
- Communication and trust: When the CEO establishes a culture of openness, the C-suite feels encouraged to bring forward fresh ideas, ask tough questions and address issues without fear of retribution.
- Empowerment: By encouraging autonomy, the CEO frees up bandwidth to focus on strategic priorities while allowing each C-level executive to apply their expertise where it counts most.
- Cross-functional collaboration: To lead C-levels effectively, the CEO should promote cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that all departments work towards common goals rather than isolated targets. By facilitating interactions between leaders of different functions, the CEO can help the team reduce redundancies and make smarter decisions.
- Coaching and development: The most effective CEOs invest in their team’s continuous growth. By providing coaching, mentorship, and learning opportunities, the CEO helps executives hone their skills, adapt to new challenges, and remain energised in their roles.
- Accountability: A CEO should set quantifiable metrics aligned with the company’s objectives, enabling each leader to gauge progress objectively. By linking accountability to individual and team outcomes, the CEO can create a performance-driven culture where each executive understands the impact of their contributions.
- Celebration: CEOs should make it a priority to celebrate wins across the executive team. Recognising individual contributions boosts morale and reinforces a positive company culture where achievements are valued.
The CEO’s key relationships – leading specific C-suite members
We have looked at some general principles when it comes to leading fellow leaders. Let’s now drill down a bit more and look at some of the key relationships the CEO has and how they each might need slightly different leadership styles. There isn’t space to go into every member of the C-suite, but we can still get a good idea of some of the role-specific factors to consider:
- CEO and COO: The partnership between the CEO and COO relies on mutual respect, well-defined responsibilities and a shared commitment to strategic goals. Each leader has distinct yet complementary roles: the CEO primarily shapes the long-term vision and cultivates external relationships, while the COO translates these objectives into daily operations. Regular strategic and operational meetings that align both leaders on company goals are crucial, with the CEO empowering the COO by establishing clear expectations and granting autonomy in internal operations. Meanwhile, the COO takes ownership of outcomes, acting as a reliable bridge between strategy and execution. When working well together, they should enhance each other’s effectiveness to drive growth.
- CEO and CFO: The CEO plays a crucial role in ensuring a successful CEO-CFO relationship by establishing clearly defined roles and fostering consistent communication. Setting explicit expectations is essential, enabling the CFO to align their approach (whether focusing on data analysis or strategic discussions) with the CEO’s vision for the company. The CEO must articulate broader goals, allowing the CFO to translate these into actionable financial insights. Regular check-ins and open communication should be prioritised, empowering both leaders to respond swiftly to challenges and align their objectives effectively. Additionally, the CEO should encourage the CFO to present complex financial data accessibly, facilitating informed decision-making. Trust is foundational, and creating a culture of candid discussions – allowing for disagreements in private while presenting a united front publicly – is vital for navigating immediate challenges and achieving long-term goals.
- CEO and CMO: The CEO must create a partnership with the CMO that emphasises strategic growth over operational minutiae. To empower the CMO to drive growth, the CEO needs to position marketing as a core business driver, not just a support function. Rather than focusing on individual marketing outputs, the CEO should collaborate with the CMO to translate consumer insights into opportunities and potential risk areas. This enables the CMO to align marketing initiatives with broader company goals, using customer insights to guide targeted growth. The CEO should actively engage with customers – observing behaviours, attending events, or participating in market visits – to deepen alignment with the marketing vision. Additionally, the CEO should stay informed about emerging marketing strategies, regularly reviewing insights or updates provided by the CMO. This ongoing exposure to innovations and customer perspectives equips the CEO to contribute meaningfully to marketing-led growth, solidifying marketing’s role in the company.
- CEO and CIO: To enable the CIO to deliver impactful tech solutions, the CEO must clearly communicate the company’s strategic objectives, providing the CIO with the insights needed to prioritise technology investments that directly support these goals. By sharing specific aims and challenges, the CEO allows the CIO to focus resources on initiatives that align with the broader vision, fostering a results-oriented approach to technology. The CEO should actively seek the CIO’s insights into tech capabilities and constraints, which helps set realistic expectations for technology's role in the company’s growth. Consistent, structured reporting is key to a productive CEO-CIO partnership, with the CEO expecting regular updates that simplify complex IT metrics – such as using red-amber-green indicators for quick visual assessment. This approach enables the CEO to monitor progress and address pressing issues without being drawn into technical details, empowering both leaders to focus on driving innovation and growth.
Position the organisation to thrive
Leading a team of leaders requires a CEO to inspire, guide, and empower their executives. As we have seen, by fostering trust, encouraging collaboration, and nurturing growth, CEOs can create a resilient executive team capable of tackling challenges and seizing opportunities. Through these strategies, the CEO not only drives the success of individual C-level leaders but also positions the entire organisation to thrive.
