The latest disruption in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), now lead the need for a more agile business structure in an organization. It also delivers a CEO-mandated approach to drive innovation. Today, organizationsneed to create definite strategies focusing on these disruptive technologies to strive in the changing business landscape. These strategies typically are mandated from the top-down level, starting with the CEO.

In this digital era, CEOs need to perform more than building an innovative team. They need to rally the entire business, seeing their company as a cohesive force for the transformation. This is not a functional approach but an enterprise-level strategy and this is everywhere on the agendas of corporate boards.

So, here’s the role of a CEO in today’s changing scenario.

Leading Digital Innovation

A company just can’t settle for incremental improvement. They must intermittently undergo performance transformations to stay on top. Before that, it has become quite frustrating to comprehend the temporary vogue and the future redefinition for an enterprise, digital innovation is one such approach that a CEO has to take. As the CIOs and CTOs are struggling with technical debt and IT legacy, the CEO needs to bring in a fresh perspective.

The world is changing at a rapid pace, which makes it difficult for leaders to invest in technology and tools. So, the CEO needs to roll the dice for it and persuade the board members.

Redefining Organization Culture

Culture is a complex thing, which exists in the words, actions, thoughts of an organization’s employees, and even in a tangible scenario like office design or dress code. It’s truly said that culture always starts at the top. So, CEOs play a vital role in shaping and redefining the company culture as digital transformation encompasses a lot of trial and error. In any company, the teams need to feel audacious and empowered enough to bring new ideas to the table. And it requires a cultural shift that can be brought in only by the CEO.

The changes they make, the policies they create, and the behaviors they model all influence the way others behave in the organization. From communicating the vision to ensuring organizational values, CEOs must be thoughtful about their behaviors to make sure that they support the company culture.

Building a High-Performing Leadership Team

CEOs are the face of the organizations as their ideas, views, and opinions are looked upon as the voice of the enterprise. They want a high-performing leadership team around them because energetic, dynamic, ambitious and capable people are always a plus point. Organizations that foster and sustain high-performing teams are more likely to outperform the competition and realize breakout success. As more work is conducted now remotely, leadership teams have become increasingly demanding. But building a team remains tough as ever.

High-performing teams not only drive the company’s business but also bring out the best in people, complementing individual strengths and weaknesses and offering the ideas, perspectives and resources that assist individuals and the team to make better decisions and accomplish prodigious outcomes.

Making Quality Decisions

Every day, CEOs face the inexorable task of making correct and quality decisions. It may be about tactics and strategies, customers and markets, operations and management, among others. These decisions can vary in significance and intricacy, but some have the capability to determine the fortune of a company. Quality decisions hoist the productivity of an organization. CEOs must not only make good decisions, but also cultivate the decision-making abilities of their team, facilitate decisions that support the corporate strategy and create buy-in for final decisions.