To ask what high earners do all day?

[WearyCat]

I genuinely don’t know what CEOs, that type of role, people earning over 150K pa actually do. How do they spend their time?

Not whether they are worth the salary. But what do those jobs involve on a day to day basis? All I have is an idea based on films and guesswork. Is it golf? Lunches? Meetings? What sort of decisions are they making? What pressures are they facing?

I’m interested, curious, and I don’t see how I would ever find out in real life because I don’t move in circles where people have that sort of job.

It’s okay if you don’t understand it, not many people do. Hence threads like this. Most people have no clue what is involved in being a CEO.

Something, something, something... "meetings"; something, something, something... "pressure"; something, something, something... "decisions" 🤣

Also there is a huge difference between CEO level and salary or running a law firm (people have floated numbers like 400k plus) to a sales or marketing director on 150k. Obviously both are incredibly stressful but the responsibility of the whole company does not fall on the marketing director..

Writing complicated spreadsheets and meetings (DH, actuarial consultant).

I'm a lawyer working in-house in tech and tend to earn about that, depending on bonus. My days involve a never ending cycle of emails, meetings, meetings about meetings we're having later, meetings to argue about the interpretation of individual words in a contract, meetings with engineers to try and understand their products etc. Lots of drafting of contract terms for upcoming deals, drafting emails, advisory notes. Sending instructions to external counsel when necessary and meetings with them. Providing training to the business and engineering teams on key compliance frameworks (e.g., latest regulations for AI and how it impacts our product designs).

Just generally lots of stress too. Far more stress than when I was more junior. Now I'm more senior I have the benefit of being a bit more flexible in terms of working hours, but the work itself is very complicated and decisions I make are more risky or potentially more impactful. I'm expected to be available a lot, which means working weekends, holidays and a lot of evenings once the kids are in bed. When I'm not physically working on my laptop, I often have work in my mind. Its very hard to switch off. I literally dream about different work matters I have on that I'm finding it hard to 'fix'. The pressure to come up with 'creative solutions' (i.e., the business wants to do X, find a way to make it legal or compliant) which aren't too risky is exhausting and you're constantly second guessing your decisions.

Honestly, its been pretty horrific recently and I've been making exit plans to move to a less stressful role. I'm thankful not to have any direct reports or people management responsibilities.

All the people talking about the huge responsibility CEOs/ Heads of departments carry - and I don't dispute on paper that they absolutely do - do you ever wonder though why there appears to be so little real accountability for failure/disasters/scandals on their watch?
From what I've seen of both the top tier corporate and public sector world, people seem to fail upwards or they're shuffled sideways from one extremely well-paid position to the next. It's like this unwritten code that once you've made it to a certain level/ made enough connections/ know where enough of the bodies are buried you're golden, irrespective of your actual ability, the state you've left the company or organization in or even whether you've actually achieved any tangible results at all...

I'm not senior management level, but over the years I have seen what my bosses go through with pressure and endless meetings, and what happens to them when the shit hits the fan. I also see their lovely cars, houses, jewellery and kids with private education.. but then I also see their failed marriges and stressed-out over-achiever kids (not all of them, obvs).

No thanks, not worth it.

What they don't fundraise, ensure governance is done properly, deal with staffing issues - hiring and firing, talk to trustees, ensure there is a strategic plan, ensure the charity is still solvent and viable. .?

I genuinely think this thread has been a valuable insight into why corporate capitalism is so fucked up. All the people making decisions being pulled this way and that in meetings from morning til night. I wonder how many of - for example - Thames Water's meetings were actually about public accountability versus covering-our-arses firefighting.

This is very interesting and I read it a lot, however it’s very different from my experience.

The senior people I know are invariably married (as opposed to separated / divorced or single) and more often than not they are married to an equally high-achieving spouse i.e. so called “power couples”. I know a very high number of couples in exactly the same profession - two lawyers, two doctors, two accountants etc. Perhaps these marriages have a higher chance of survival than more unequal marriages because there is an understanding from each party of the stresses and demands of their respective careers? I’m speculating, because I genuinely hardly know any divorced people in my profession, at any level. I can think of one divorcee who found a new boyfriend and remarried quite quickly, and one widower, in the almost 15 years I’ve been in the profession.

Used to be one of these. Combination of strategy, business planning, management and hr, as well as specialist advice, problem solving and crisis management. Sadly too much of the crisis stuff and less of the others. I was much younger then and probably would do a better job these days.

Max Weber is fucking loving this thread

If you cannot take time off when you are ill or on holiday then a) you are not modelling healthy working practices for your juniors and b) you are functionally a single point of failure waiting to happen, which is not generally considered a good thing.

The job my late husband was in was directly monitored by national, and some international safety organisations. Decisions he took relating to safety and environmental safety were his direct personal responsibility. Getting sacked was the least of his concerns.

I'm guessing nuclear power?
And I'm glad to hear that this at least is a sector where responsibilities are taken extremely seriously. Anything less, as we all know, can be pretty catastrophic...

You know this how? You work at high level and are privy to these details? Or youre just daily mailing it...

Similar

I presume the person one rung down will run each business unit on a business-as-usual basis but no big strategic or politically difficult decisions get taken. Consequently, the company is rudderless and will slowly move backwards (because there is no such thing as standing still) without someone to motivate staff and drive the business forward.

If a CEO is incapacitated, many times it is the chairman who will step in in the interim until a new chief can be found.

I'd been a guardian reader for last 30 years - until recently boycotting it on GI issues - so can't say whether the daily mail (that champion of socialist values) has much to say about corporate or public sector mismanagement. I'm guessing they're not pushing for re-nationalisation of rail, post, water and energy on the grounds of incompetence/corruption? Would be pleased if they are.

But come on, you'd have to have been living under a rock for the last few years to think they're isn't a problem with revolving doors between government depts and big Business. HMRC are known for it. It's really difficult to fail on a personal level once you reach a certain level, largely due to the connections you've made on the way up which guarantee there will always be other lucrative options - even if you temporarily have to take the fall in one job.

And no, I'm just a lowly charity volunteer and family carer who happens by quirk of where I live to be friends over the last 30 years with a fair few people who have 'very big jobs' - my personal experience comes from the stories they tell about they're own professional experiences. I have no reason to doubt them.

I’m still following, and though the discussions about the different types of stress or pressure are interesting, I’m not sure they’re ever resolvable because I imagine there are very few people who have been both a CEO/high earner familiar with the types of pressure detailed by some posters here, and also have the experience of being social workers, teachers, health professionals and so on- who absolutely do carry work around with them to their homes and holidays- actual physical work sometimes, or worries about children, patients, clients etc on other occasions- and often work very long hours. So I wasn’t trying to open a conversation about that here.

I am quite interested to know whether the high salary is worth it. I’ve noted a few posts which suggest that it may not be/have been for those posters. (Equally my own break from working in education was due to the pressures of that job, and I’ve taken steps to try and avoid getting to that sort of point ever again.) Or is it worth it to be financially secure- because financial insecurity is another source of toxic stress.

Can the body even distinguish between different types of toxic or chronic stress?

So if you can have a contingency plan to hand over the reins in an emergency, why not make it a regular thing so the CEO / high flying lawyer / marketing director etc. can enjoy their time off? Honestly if someone expected me to be on call during my scheduled down time that generations fought for I would tell them to pretend I was in a coma for the week and act accordingly.

I love what I do so the fact it also attracts a higher salary is great. So yes it is worth it, it’s a life choice not just a career for me. I get to do a breadth of very interesting things and stuff that makes me feel I’m making a great impact also. Apologies don’t want to be too specific as it’s outing.

AKA Private Eye's perennial Revolving Door feature.

I hear you. I don't have the mental space for my hobby, which would need me to switch off mentally. I can't switch off mentally. If I do, work suffers.

I have this sort of job. Not C suite, but lead a function in a large global company.

My day is pretty meeting heavy. A lot of the time they are meetings where people present their ideas, projects, etc to me and are looking for a decision of some sort. They often make a recommendation, and it's my job to judge whether that's a sound recommendation. I need to look at the wider business context and try to understand how my decision will fit in with that etc. It's a lot of pressure as sometimes one wrong decision can cost the business hundreds of millions.
The other part of my job seems to be to just keep an eye on all the moving pieces of all the work my team do, and intervene early if something is amiss. Try to catch problems before they even really exist. And in the same way, try to spot opportunities early and get team members digging into them quickly, before anyone else gets there.

I don't hugely mind the pressure, most of the time. I enjoy the intellectual challenge. Having to think deeply at high speed. And working with people is rewarding. I have a truly wonderful team. My direct reports are superb. Coaching them is fun.

I do mind it when I have to do things like deal with performance issues. Or redundancies, although I've only had to do a handful in my career. Reorgs. These things are unavoidable, but never pleasant. I've learnt that you can genuinely like the people you work with - and still agree that firing them is the right thing for the business.

That was quite an essay! Sorry!