The job description of a Company President shows the overall purpose of the role and the primary duties a holder of that office needs to perform.
The Company President is responsible for the overall direction and management of the company. They are responsible for setting strategy, overseeing operations, and maintaining customer relationships. The Company President must have strong business acumen and be able to lead a team.
The President is also responsible for ensuring that the company meets all its financial obligations and complies with all legal mandates. In addition, the President is responsible for developing and implementing policies and procedures and supervising the work of the company's employees.
The company president is also responsible for deciding what products to produce, where to invest money, and allocating resources among the company's divisions. The President also has a significant impact on the company's public image and must be able to represent the company in a positive light.
To succeed in this role, the President must have a strong business background and knowledge of the company's industry.
Job description of Company President: Overall Purpose of the job
Determines and formulates policies and provides general direction for businesses or organizations in the private and public sectors while adhering to the parameters established by a board of directors or another comparable governing body.
The company president's responsibility is to monitor and direct the organization's overall business strategy and operations. Included focus areas are the formulation of objectives and strategies and the coordination of activity among different departments. In addition, the President must cultivate strong connections with the organization's most important stakeholders, including customers, investors, and partners.
The company President is also responsible for the company's financial management, which includes formulating and executing the company's financial plan. The company President is also responsible for the administration of the company's human resources, which includes creating and executing the company's human resources strategy.
Job description of Company President: Main Duties
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The job description of a company president must capture all the major duties.
- Provides strategic direction to the business under the guidance of the Board of directors.
- Decides on investment options and recommends these to the Board for approval.
- Mobilizes all stakeholders to support the vision and mission of the organization.
- Develops specific strategies to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of the organization.
- Craft strategies to retain and attract the best talent available on the market.
- Develops succession plans to support all critical roles within the business.
- Develops risk models to support all the value chains within the business.
- Craft strategies to support the social responsibility interventions undertaken by the business.
- Develops and sustains an organizational culture that supports the long-term strategy of the business.
- Develops and builds sustainable internal systems and policies that can withstand external transitory shocks.
- Ensures that the organization is at the forefront of leveraging digital technologies to support the business strategy.
- Ensures that the organization complies in full with all legal and regulatory requirements.
- Ensures that the business operates as a responsible citizen.
- Mobilizes and ensures adequate funding for all business activities of the organization.
- Makes an effort to understand the needs of critical stakeholders and devises strategies to ensure the needs are met to advance the organization's vision and mission.
- Develops and adheres to corporate governance best practices.
- Develops strategies to grow the business sustainability.
Job description of Company President: Educational requirements
The trend I have noticed in job descriptions of company presidents is that they often require someone with a first degree. Some specify that the person must have a bachelor's degree in business or related studies. Others mention a first degree as the requirement. I am noticing that some companies now require a company president to have a master's degree in business or a related field as a mandatory requirement. In contrast, others put that as an added advantage.
When deciding what educational requirements to put on the job description of the company president, you must remember that the CEO Genome project found no statistically significant relationship between CEO performance and level of education.
Job description of Company President: Experience Level required
The experience indications do vary. Many job descriptions at this level require a minimum of 10 years of experience in an executive role. Some job descriptions list as low as 5 years of experience in a senior leadership role.
There has been debate as to whether the job description of a company president should make it mandatory for the candidates to have the industry-specific experience to perform at this level. I would say it's a matter of Board preference. Company Presidents with no industry-specific experience have and continue to do well. I would not recommend this be included unless the Board strongly feels this would bring some advantage to the business. The only advantage of hiring someone with industry-specific experience is that they will take less time to understand your specific industry dynamics. When hiring at this level, the assumption is that candidates can learn quickly.
Job description of Company President: Other Characteristics Required
If the job description of the company president has been done well, it will list some other critical competencies or characteristics required. Usually, a company president requires someone with high integrity, business acumen, good communication skills and stakeholder management skills.
If the role is in a profit-making organization, the job description may require that aspiring candidates have very good business development and networking skills. Critical thinking skills are required at this level regardless of sector.
Every candidate in a senior role, such as the company president, must have the right personality. Many organizations have been run down by senior leaders who end be derailing due to personality defects. It is estimated that billions of dollars are lost annually due to leaders derailing due to personality defects.
Conclusion
When hiring a company president, Boards must be sure of what they expect the candidate to do when they are in the role. They must also be clear on what they expect the candidate to possess in terms of Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other characteristics. Too often, these are not clearly articulated, leading to hiring the wrong people for such crucial roles.
The job description of the Company President outlines what the job entails and what knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics are required from potential candidates. When developing a job description for the company president, remember that, like a Chief Executive, the Company President is ultimately responsible for giving strategic direction to the business. They are responsible for the success or failure of a business. While this role often reports to the Board, the ultimate success of a company president depends on how good they are at mobilizing human and material resources to support the strategic thrust of the organization.
Memory Nguwi is an Occupational Psychologist, Data Scientist, Speaker, & Managing Consultant- Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm.Email:mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com or visit our websites https://www.thehumancapitalhub.com/ and www.ipcconsultants.com
