Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a chief executive officer and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A chief executive officer is tasked with the main responsibility of ensuring the overall success of an organization. He/she has the ultimate authority when it comes to the final decision-making process within the organization. He/she offers the leadership required to stir the organization in the right direction in meeting its objectives.

Other duties he/she can perform include; seeking advice from the broad of directors regarding various issues, formulating and implementing the strategic plan designed to give the organization direction as well as communicating and executing the company's vision and mission and evaluating the success of the organization from time to time.

Core Skills Required to be a Chief Executive Officer

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A chief executive officer should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Public Speaking:

Public Speaking though closely related to presenting differs in that it is the process of performing a speech before a live audience with the purpose of informing, persuading or entertaining.

A Chief Executive Officer must be equipped with good public speaking skills to be able to address an audience through presentations or talks to drive the point home and create a reputable record.

Judgment Skills:

Judgment is the ability to make a decision or form an opinion wisely especially in matters affecting action, good sense and discretion.

A Chief Executive Officer must be a person of good judgment with the ability to make the right decision at the right time and for right reasons especially in prioritizing the work correctly to focus on a few important things and ensure excellent results are delivered.

Managing at team:

Managing is the administration of an organization which includes activities of setting the strategy of an organization and coordinating the efforts of the employees to accomplish its objectives.

A Chief Executive Officer must learn the art of creating corporate policy, organizing, planning, controlling and directing organization resources to achieve the aims of the policies formed while making decisions to oversee the enterprise.

Leadership Skills:

Leadership Skills are soft skills that assist leaders in positively interacting with employees or team members to make the workplace a great place.

A Chief Executive Officer must be able to lead effectively by learning how to deal with all types of people in a way that motivates, enthuse and build respect in a bid to understand and develop his leadership skills.

Work Attitude:

Work Attitude is one's feelings towards and beliefs about one's job and their behavior that can tell how it feels to be there.

A Chief Executive Officer ought to encourage his workers and provide all the requirements for the workplace to ensure a positive attitude is maintained by the employees that can help them get a promotion, succeed on projects, meet goals and enjoy the job more.

Emotion Management:

Emotion Management is the ability to realize, readily accept and successfully control feelings on oneself and sometimes in others around you by being in complete authority over your thoughts and feelings that are generated whenever your values are touched.

A Chief Executive Officer must be able to manage his emotions as well as assist the staff to control their emotions to ensure that the professional reputation, the efficiency, and productivity is not compromised.

Emotional Intelligence:

Emotional Intelligence is the capability to identify your emotions, understand what they are telling me and realize how the feelings are affecting you and the people around you.

A Chief Executive Officer should be wise to handle different personalities that carry different emotions presented in the workplace while ensuring relationships are managed more efficiently by respecting your perception and the employee's as well.

Enjoyment of the Job:

Enjoyment of the Job is the ability to enjoy what you do rather than enjoying what you earn from it.

A Chief Executive Officer needs to creatively learn of ways to motivate his employees to benefit from the workplace by matching their personality to the culture of the organization where they fit best and allowing them to explore their hidden talents to grow and mature with the team.

Personal Commitment:

Personal Commitment is an obligation that you have voluntarily agreed to fulfill without being cajoled or threatened and are willing to be held accountable for the results.

A Chief Executive Officer ought to understand that though adopting new policies and procedures will be met with resistance, the approach by which safety standards are implemented and enforced influences employee's attitudes and commitment towards the organization.

Goal and Objective Setting:

Goal and Objective Setting is the strategic plan that is set and laid down identifying how goals should be accomplished, by who and by what time.

A Chief Executive Officer must detect and schedule each employee's goals, strategy, and objectives and keep motivating them to ensure all of them are met within the set time bringing growth to both the company and the employee.

Hard Skills Required to be a Chief Executive Officer

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A chief executive officer should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Chief Executive Officer: Hard skills list

Accounting
Advertising Promotions
Bookkeeping
Budgeting
Budgeting Principles
Business Acumen
Business Development
Business Planning
Business Strategy
Communication
Cost Analysis Theory
Economic Data
Economic Principles and Trends
Effective Time Management Techniques
Emergency Management Principles
Entrepreneurship
Financial Analysis
Financial Management Principles and Theories
General Financial Analysis
Interviewing Techniques
Management
Market and Customer Knowledge
Marketing Strategy
Merger & Acquisitions
Negotiate Business Contracts
Negotiation Techniques
Operations Management
Organization Management
Organizational Accounting or Budgeting
Organizational Development
Organizational Theory
Planning
Presentations
Principles of Business Law
Project Management
Public Administration Principles
Public Policies and Laws
Public Relations Techniques
Resource Development
Sales
Sales Management
Senior Financial Management
Statistical Cost Estimation Methods
Start-ups
Strategy
Strategy Development
Strategic and Tactical Planning
Strategic Management
Strategic Marketing
Strategic Partnerships
Strategic Planning
Strategic Sales
Social Media Marketing
Numeracy (high level of numeracy)
Strategy Approach
Write Project or Bid Proposals

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