Top executives and elected government officials

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Top executives devise strategies and formulate policies to ensure that an organization's objectives are met. Although they have a wide range of titles — such as chief executive officer, board chair, president, vice president, school superintendent, county administrator and tax commissioner — all formulate policies and direct the operations of businesses and corporations, nonprofit institutions, governments and other organizations.

The chief executive officer, in collaboration with other top executives, establish a corporation's goals and policies. The chief executive officer of a corporation retains overall accountability, but may delegate much of the day-to-day responsibility to a chief operating officer. In publicly held and nonprofit corporations, the chief executive officer reports to a board of directors, which is ultimately accountable for the actions of the company.

The nature of other high-level executives' responsibilities depends upon the size of the organization. In large organizations, their duties are highly specialized. In smaller organizations, a partner, owner or general manager often is responsible for purchasing, hiring, training, quality control and day-to-day supervisory duties.

Chief financial officers direct the organization's financial goals, objectives and budgets.

Chief information officers oversee the overall technological direction of their organizations.

Chief executives in government, like their counterparts in the private sector, are responsible for how their organizations perform. These officials, including the U.S. president, state governors and city mayors, work with legislators to set goals and attain them. They oversee budgets and ensure that resources are used properly and programs are carried out as planned.

Legislators are elected officials who develop, enact or amend laws. They include U.S. senators and representatives, state senators and representatives, and county, city and town commissioners and council members. Legislators introduce, examine and vote on bills to pass official legislation.

General and operations managers plan, direct or coordinate the operations of companies or public and private sector organizations. The duties include formulating policies, managing daily operations and planning the use of materials and human resources.

Substantial travel and long hours, including evenings and weekends, are standard for most top executives and general managers.

Chief executives and legislators time at work ranges from a few hours a week for some local leaders to stressful weeks of 60 or more hours for members of the U.S. Congress.

Training and qualifications

The formal education and experience of top executives varies as widely as the nature of their responsibilities. Many top executives have a bachelor's or higher degree in business administration or liberal arts.

Top executives must have highly developed personal skills and an analytical mind. Top executives must be able to communicate clearly and persuasively. Other critical qualities include leadership, self-confidence, motivation, decisiveness, flexibility, sound business judgment and determination.

Apart from meeting minimum age, residency and citizenship requirements, candidates for a legislative position have no established training or qualifications. Management-level work experience and public service help develop the fund-raising, budgeting, public speaking and problem-solving skills needed to run an effective political campaign. Candidates must make decisions quickly and should be able to inspire and motivate their constituents and staff. They must know how to reach compromises and satisfy conflicting demands of constituents.

Virtually all town, city and county managers have at least a bachelor's degree, and the majority hold a master's degree. A master's degree in public administration is recommended.

Job outlook

Employment of top executives — including chief executives, general and operations managers and legislators — is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2010. Experienced managers whose accomplishments reflect strong leadership qualities and the ability to improve the efficiency or competitive position of an organization will have the best opportunities. In an increasingly global economy, experience in international economics, marketing, information systems and knowledge of several languages also may be beneficial.

Few new governments at any level are likely to form, and the number of chief executives and legislators in existing governments rarely changes. Some increase will occur at the local level as counties, cities and towns take on professional managers or move from volunteer to paid, career executives to deal with population growth, federal regulations and long-range planning.

Earnings

Top executives held about 3 million jobs in 2000, with three of five in services, retail trade and manufacturing industries. Employment was distributed as follows:

General and operations managers 2,398,000
Chief executives 547,000
Legislators 54,000

Salary levels vary substantially depending upon the level of managerial responsibility, length of service and type, size and location of the firm. Median annual earnings of general and operations managers in 2000 were $61,160. Median annual earnings of chief executives in 2000 were $113,810. Median annual earnings of legislators were $14,110 in 2000.