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There has long been a fascination about what Chief Executives do. It is well recognised that they have considerable influence and power and live what most people assume are fast and exciting lives. Their decisions influence the lives of most of us as today the majority of people work in some form of organisation.

Research was commissioned to identify the competences that are required by local authority chief executives in the UK. It emerged that the “competence approach” was inappropriate for their needs. Instead, “capacity” – a concept originating in psychoanalytic theory – was adopted as one which reflected better the reality of the chief executive’s role. Through a qualitative research approach with a sample of chief executives, five capacities were identified. These were seen as central to the effective performance of the chief executive’s role. The research suggests that policies concerned with the development of chief executives should not be based on an orthodox competence approach. It recommends the use of “capacity” as a better way of conveying chief executives’ capabilities to “hold” many interconnected, dynamic and paradoxical dimensions in their work.

This monograph presents some findings, based on four pieces of work funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, on the influence of the National Quality Campaign on UK industry. Amongst the main conclusions are that the campaign material has been relatively successful in reaching its prime target of senior management, the majority of respondents have found the material to be useful and believe that the campaign has benefited their organisation in terms of increased awareness of the importance of total quality management and that few chief executives are actively involved in the process of quality improvement. It is also pointed out that respondents have been selective in their choice of material and chief executives were more discriminating than their subordinates. The selection of material appears to be dependent upon brochure content, respondents′ position in the organisational hierarchy and respondents′ perception of the relevance of material. There is little doubt that people have high expectations of Government in continuing to promote national awareness of quality management and disseminating quality‐related information. The monograph goes on to explore possible future initiatives along the lines of a Pan‐European dimension.

Reports part of the results of an investigation of marketing organization structures in the British textile industry. Looks particularly at textile engineering, wool textiles and clothing sectors through results obtained from a survey carried out among 322 companies. Determines the extent to which the marketing concept is accepted by managers and implemented within their companies. Identifies the factors associated with acceptance and implementation focusing mainly on the chief marketing executive and the organization in which he/she works.

The personalities, style and job demands of top ranking police officers have never before been seriously analysed. Here, by using a management development survey, key personality characteristics and the management and interpersonal styles of top ranking officers are identified. The views of chief officers are discussed, together with an examination of the necessary qualities required. Ways in which senior officers can improve their performance through management training and development and how this can assist their professional growth and development, are emphasised.

Prepares management graduates to become leaders, entrepreneurs and chief executives.

Offers leadership lessons based on the career of Jack Welch, former Chief Executive and Chairman of General Electric.

Shows that becoming a chief executive requires consistent and persistent effort.

Shows that the lessons can be applied in any industry to prepare management graduates as leaders, entrepreneurs and chief executives.

Shows how to groom management graduates as successful leaders, entrepreneurs and chief executives.

Highlights what business schools do not teach. Emphasizes the importance of both classroom learning and corporate experience. Outlines tools and techniques to fast-track a career.

This paper aims to present a blueprint for HR leaders to excel as chief executives.

The paper highlights some of the challenges that HR leaders encounter in their quest to succeed as a chief executive.

The paper emphasizes the need to acquire chief‐executive acumen by developing a particular mindset, toolset and skill set, among other things. It explains the importance of understanding other departments, including marketing, finance, operations, legal, IT and strategy.

The paper stresses the importance of entering into line organizations rather than staff organizations for quick career advancement for HR leaders.

The paper illustrates the realities of leadership development, with examples of a wide range of successful leaders.

The paper closes the gap between theory and practice in the quest to become a good chief executive.

To research how chief executives learn and what behavioural characteristics distinguish them from other managers.

The research used a personality profile (DISC) and structured interviews to compare the behaviours of a sample of chief executives from the public service with a sample from the private sectors in Northern Ireland.

The research found three distinguishing characteristics of chief executives and challenged stereotypes of differences between the public and private sector and between male and female chief executives.

There were no historic data to compare findings to indicate whether the behaviours highlighted were intrinsic or learned. Neither were the data differentiated by age nor was there any indication of how successful chief executives were. Future research might also look at differences between successful and less successful chief executives or look at other categories of leaders. An extremely interesting field might be to look at political leaders and compare their profiles with the chief executives.

The research challenges some of the basis for core competency approaches to development and reinforces the argument for action‐based approaches.

Provides data for the debate on how one can best design and plan the selection and development of senior executives.

This paper aims to explore how chief executive officers (CEOs) and C-suite marketing executives (chief marketing officers [CMOs], chief customer officers [CCOs], chief branding officers [CBOs], etc.) talk about marketing concepts to better understand how marketers can more effectively articulate their value and increase their strategic influence within the firm.

Artificial intelligence-enabled computerized text analysis was used to identify and weight keywords from 266 CEO and C-suite marketing executive interviews. Custom marketing concept dictionaries were used to gauge overall marketing focus.

The analysis revealed opportunities for C-suite marketers to align specific marketing concepts with that of CEOs for increased strategic influence. Comparisons between C-suite marketing roles showed that CMOs are more focused on marketing strategy than specialized C-suite marketing positions, such as CCO and CBO. This points to a potential decrease in strategic impact for marketing executives dependent on the specialization of their position.

Using IBM Watson’s black-box artificial intelligence may limit the ability to replicate results from the content analysis; however, the results identify important ways that marketing executives can use to increase their ability to articulate their value within the firm.

C-suite marketing executives who want to increase the strategic alignment of their role with their firm must pay close attention to the marketing concepts they talk about, and how those align with their CEO’s marketing knowledge. The creation of specialized C-suite marketing roles may unintentionally limit the strategic thinking and firm-level impact of marketers.

This paper represents the first use of artificial intelligence-enabled computerized text analysis to explore and compare executive speech acts to help increase marketing’s influence in the firm. It is also the first to explore differences in marketing concept use between C-suite marketing roles.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between the individual philosophies of chief executives in local government and their approach to implementing change and service improvement, and how chief executives interpret their role in the improvement process, given the pressures from government and localities.