The Role of the CEO: Sales Person, Police Officer, or Both? 4-19-25 - Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast

Summary4 min read

Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast: Summary of "The Role of the CEO: Sales Person, Police Officer, or Both?" (04-19-25)

Host: Scott Becker
Episode Release Date: April 19, 2025

Introduction

In this episode of the Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast, host Scott Becker delves into the multifaceted role of the CEO in mid-sized and small organizations. Titled "The Role of the CEO: Sales Person, Police Officer, or Both?," the discussion explores whether CEOs should juggle both driving sales and enforcing accountability or if these responsibilities should be distinctly separated within the leadership hierarchy.

CEO as Salesperson and Leader

Scott begins by asserting that in many mid-sized and small companies, the CEO often wears multiple hats, taking on the responsibilities of both Chief Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Officer. This dual role involves leading the sales team, strategizing, and driving the overall growth of the company.

“We’re a believer that in most mid-sized organizations and small organizations, the CEO is often that runs the sales team to is chief of commercial as well.” (01:00)

This combination allows the CEO to maintain direct control over the company's commercial activities and ensure that sales strategies align closely with the overarching vision and goals.

The Accountability Challenge

As organizations expand, the necessity for clear accountability becomes paramount. Scott highlights the dilemma where CEOs may find themselves overwhelmed by the need to enforce accountability within their teams, especially in the absence of a strong second-in-command.

“Sometimes the CEO gets stuck in this role because they don’t have a clear enough or strong enough right hand person who could sort of be the police person and hold the team accountable.” (03:15)

Without a Chief Operating Officer (COO) or similar role to manage day-to-day accountability, CEOs may be forced to revert to micromanaging, detracting from their ability to focus on strategic growth and innovation.

The Importance of a Strong Second Leader

Scott emphasizes the value of having a dedicated leader who can handle accountability, allowing the CEO to concentrate on steering the company forward. This division of labor not only reduces stress on the CEO but also fosters a more efficient and harmonious leadership structure.

“We’re huge fans of organizations that have great chief operating officers, great leaders that could do sort of the hard work of keeping everybody accountable while the CEO can pursue growth, strategy, vision and the big things.” (04:00)

He references historical examples, such as leadership duos like Jenner and Black, Ted Tess Slap, and Rod Joslin, where one leader focused on driving growth while the other ensured accountability and operational efficiency.

The Consequences of Overloading the CEO

When CEOs are compelled to take on the role of the "police person" in addition to their primary responsibilities, it leads to significant stress and can impede the company's growth trajectory. Scott points out that this situation is often not due to the CEO's shortcomings but rather the actions of other senior leaders who fail to support the CEO by taking on their own accountability roles.

“Where you get in trouble is when that CEO also has to be at all times the police person. That causes tremendous stress for everybody.” (04:20)

This dual burden can lead to burnout and reduce the CEO's effectiveness in their primary role of guiding the company's vision and growth.

Conclusion

Scott Becker concludes by reiterating the critical balance required in leadership roles within organizations. He advocates for a clear delineation between those driving growth and vision and those ensuring accountability and operational discipline. By establishing this balance, companies can thrive without overburdening their CEOs, fostering a more sustainable and scalable business model.

“It is a great luxury in an organization to have somebody side by side with you who can be a police person, an accountability person, so you could do the stuff that you love to do and that drives the firm forward and drives the organization forward.” (04:30)

Scott wraps up by encouraging organizations to evaluate their leadership structures to ensure that their CEOs can focus on strategic growth without being bogged down by enforcement roles.

Key Takeaways

Dual Roles of CEOs: In smaller organizations, CEOs often handle both leadership and sales roles.
Need for Accountability: As companies grow, establishing clear accountability roles is essential to prevent CEOs from being overextended.
Value of a COO: A dedicated COO or similar role can manage accountability, allowing the CEO to focus on growth and strategy.
Historical Leadership Examples: Successful leadership duos demonstrate the effectiveness of separating growth and accountability functions.
Stress Reduction: Proper role allocation reduces stress on the CEO and enhances overall organizational efficiency.

This episode provides insightful perspectives on optimizing leadership roles to foster sustainable business growth, making it a valuable listen for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and stakeholders involved in organizational management.

Note: Times in brackets refer to the approximate moments within the podcast where the quotes occur.

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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business podcast. In today's discussion is the role of the CEO, salesperson, police person or both. So here's the concept. We're a believer that in most mid sized organizations and small organizations the CEO is often that runs the sales team to is chief of commercial as well. And that's a big part of the role is being CEO leader, strategy and sales and driving the sales team as companies get larger. And even in small companies there's someone in a small or large company that ultimately has to hold people accountable. And sometimes the CEO gets stuck in this role because they don't have a clear enough or strong enough right hand person who could sort of be the police person and hold the team accountable. And sometimes the CEO is forced to get into this role because other senior people are constantly nicking at troubles or causing troubles or picking scabs and leading to that. And it puts the CEO back in the role of having to be the police person versus the driver and growth of the business. And at the end of the day we're huge fans of organizations that have great chief operating officers, great leaders that could do sort of the hard work of keeping everybody accountable while the CEO can pursue growth, strategy, vision and the big things, the big rocks that have to be moved forward. And sometimes when the CEO gets dragged back into this position of being a police person, it's not his or her fault, it's the fault of other senior leaders that are forcing the person back into this, into this situation. But for whatever group you're running at a company, whether it's production, it's sales, it's software development, someone's got to be out there sort of pushing the game forward and trying to make it go again. I find this to be a fascinating, fascinating discussion. It constantly in organizations, mid sized organizations, large organizations, it is a great luxury in an organization to have somebody side by side with you who can be a police person, an accountability person, so you could do the stuff that you love to do and that drives the firm forward and drives the organization forward. I see these combinations in so many different places. I remember back in the day there was a, there was a, you know, this is, this will go way back. There was a combination of leaders that came out of Jenner and Black, Ted, Tess, slap. And Rod Joslin. And Rod would be sort of the hard guy. Ted would be the driver. And those are fascinating people and hope they don't take this negative way. I view it as a fascinating relationship, and they did a great job of it. We've seen so much that over the years, we get one person who's really the growth person, big vision, big everything, the growth person, another person who's the police person. And I think that's a model that works well. Where you get in trouble is when that CEO also has to be at all times the police person. That causes tremendous stress for everybody. Again, thank you for listening to the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. We hope you enjoy this, and thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you.