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.

Problem solving, with really really high stakes.

Yeah and why would a teacher inspire a kid? Earning less than 50k and driving an absolute banger. Hardly inspiring stuff.

It was a constant frustration, as I retrained to teach. The teachers who had always only been teachers could not envision a larger world than their own town. The ceiling that imposes is hard to break.

Also, endless fucking spreadsheets.

I worked very closely with a public sector CX at one point. For the responsibility he had and the complexity of issues he has to deal with I would say he should have been paid 10X his £110k salary.

Long hours. Never really "off" even when on holiday. Always having to balance different risks. Constantly scrutinised and critiqued by lazy local journalists who just wanted click bait headlines.

Balancing hysteria from councillors some of whose weren't remotely professional

Having to quickly digest complex and sensitive reports on novel or unique issues

He earned every penny of his salary and some

He certainly deserved to be paid several multiples of whatever it is possible to get from Universal credit if you pop out a bevy of babies

Meetings mean being briefed by your team on different topics. Finances, projects, security and whatever else that the organisation does and trying to understand in depth what they are saying. Even if its not your expertise. And deciding the way forward based on that info. Taking the responsibility of that decision. Knowing you and many people will be negatively affected if its the wrong one.

Meetings with clients, investors and other stakeholders in person or online to discuss problems, ideas or deals. Making deals. Talking about big sums. Promising to deliver. Making sure it happens. Making sure there's profit to be made or some other advantage. Calculations. Understanding of global finances, trends and geopolitics and how they affect your business.

Being asked to speak at events, media etc as a representative of your company or field. Taking responsibility of everything the organisation does in the face of law.

LOL’ing at Golf 😂😂

So my husband was a senior developer/manager type. His day before he left his last job was - 7am get up, about 8.30am wander into the box room, get on a computer, have a bunch of meetings with his team, code, code some more, wander downstairs for lunch, code, more meetings, more code, then talk to his Americans team until 7pm.

Before he worked from home it would be all that plus a 2 hour commute each way. So leave the house at 6.30am and home for 9pm. That was soul destroying so working from home was amazing, we actually got to see him.

On a busy week 15 hours a day: of reading complex loan documents - drafted by more junior staff - checking that they match what the parties think they agreed to. Of a 15 hour day prob 8 hours in meetings or on phone negotiating or giving advice. 1 hour of that dealing with HR issues and admin. 20 min lunch break.

normal non busy week - 12 hours reading documents and negotiating

usually spend 10 hours over the weekend working

Lots of decision making, documenting the reasoning behind everything, foreseeing future problems and attempting to head them off, dealing with current problems, having an overview of the tax implications and other financial and reporting responsibilities in every country the company operates in and helping to make sure that they are met. Meetings, meetings, meetings, including outside work hours because of time zones.

I earn in the region of what you are saying.

i work bloody hard. A lot of my job is project based but I spend so much of my time during the day in meetings, fighting fires, dealing with problems others don’t know how to, dealing with stakeholders, dealing with all sorts of people problems. Under performers are the hardest work. Working out which of the four / five / six / however many it is meetings in at the same time that I’m going actually attend, make decision and much much more.

Somedays I don’t get a toilet break let alone lunch. I certainly don’t get long lunches and golf is unheard of.

After all that, I go home and do the actual
work I am meant to do on my projects.

I am more sleep deprived now that I was when I had kids

But I love my colleagues, I do enjoy most of the work, and have built a retirement plan that means I can cut back in the very near future so for me it will be worth it.

At the moment playing silent hill on the PS 5. Earlier on today minecraft with DD8.

I’m the CEO of a charity so not a high earner - would get far more for my level of responsibility if I was in private or public sector
My main role is applying for funding, contracts and commissioning opportunities
Dealing with reporting and all other contractual obligations and governance issues

Quality, compliance, dealing with complaints etc
Overseeing finance, HR issues, staff welfare, recruitment
Ensuring data compliance and security, checking that all our social media, website etc is issue free and does not compromise intellectual property rights etc
Line management of senior staff
Watching constantly for changes in law, government policy, industry practices etc which mean we need to change direction
Theres so much more - but it would get boring! I’m exhausted and near burn out - as struggle to switch off eg I was away on holiday this week when budget was announced and had to divert to look at how, when and where the charity would be affected and how to deal with it

I know a bloke was the chief operating officer of Apple. When the iPad was first launched and everyone in the world wanted one, his remit was to distribute them globally from China. This meant scheduling planes on a massive scale. When some of the planes were not available due to the US government requisitioning them, the delivery schedule faltered. Completely out of his control. But he had Steve Jobs coming into his office and telling him that he had ‘destroyed Christmas’ and every parent hated him. At c suite level the pressure is mental.

I work in a senior role in a law firm and have a lot of interaction with our CEO who is phenomenal. I’ve actually known him 20 years and I knew it back then - when we didn’t work together that as a junior lawyer he would be running a law firm one day.

Imagine holding the entire law firm in your hands - every decision, every risk, every outcome- while everyone looks to you for certainty. That’s the weight sitting on our CEO’s shoulders every single day.

It’s an ongoing mental marathon that blends strategy, finance, crisis-management, people leadership, and long-term vision into one nonstop role where the stakes are always high.

Here’s the kind of intense reality our CEO lives in:

1. They are responsible for the success - or failure - of the entire organisation (they are the fall person).

Every missed target, every dip in revenue, every compliance issue, every operational failure eventually lands on their desk.
They carry the accountability of thousands of people’s jobs and careers - not just our lawyers. There is no “offload,” no “that wasn’t my call.”

If something goes wrong, it’s their problem, full stop.

2. They operate at a constant strategic altitude

While everyone else can focus on their department, the CEO has to see:

• the firm’s position in the market
• competitor threats
• financial forecasts
• partner expectations
• regulatory changes
• long-term growth avenues
• brand, culture, and risk

They balance 3, 5, even 10 years of planning at once - while still reacting to what’s happening today.

It’s like playing chess on multiple boards simultaneously, with the rules changing mid-game. Yes they have meetings but there is no time-wasting, every minute of every day is utilised. Often travelling to different locations.

3. Budget pressure is relentless

CEOs monitor:

• revenue pipelines
• client acquisition patterns
• profit margins
• compensation structures
• operational costs
• investment opportunities

One wrong assumption in a budget can cascade into layoffs, missed targets, or partner frustration. They’re constantly recalculating financial scenarios in their head.

4. Decision-making is fast, complex, and high-stakes

he rarely get perfect information. He has to make multi-million-pound decisions based on:

• incomplete data
• competing priorities
• uncertain outcomes
• time pressure

And those decisions can affect the entire firm’s trajectory.
It’s decision fatigue on a whole different level.

5. They absorb pressure from every direction

A CEO deals with:

• staff expectations
• partner demands
• market volatility
• regulatory obligations
• reputation management
• investors or board scrutiny
• internal politics
• external competition

They’re the shock absorber for the entire organisation. Everyone brings problems to them, but they can’t afford to show the stress.

6. Their work is both deeply intellectual and intensely emotional

They need:

• Financial intelligence
• Strategic intelligence
• Legal and regulatory awareness
• Political sensitivity
• Emotional intelligence
• Crisis instincts

They have to think with clarity while juggling personalities, egos, conflicts, negotiations, and the firm’s culture.

7. There is no “off switch”

CEOs don’t stop thinking about the business:

• at night
• on holiday
• on weekends
• when they’re ill

Their brains are wired to constantly run through “What if?” scenarios.
The job follows them everywhere.

8. When things go well, the team gets credit. When things go wrong, the CEO takes the hit.

It’s an incredibly lonely role.
Success is shared; failure is personal.

In short:

Our CEO is the strategist, the stabiliser, the financial architect, the risk buffer, the decision-maker, the communicator, the crisis-manager, and the ultimate safety net for the firm.

They must be smart enough to understand every part of the business, calm enough to manage constant pressure, and tough enough to make decisions that affect people’s livelihoods.

It’s high-intensity, high-stakes, and never truly stops.

I’m immensely proud of our CEO.

Bloody hell @Peridoteage you earn every penny of your wage.
Pressure like that on a daily basis requires a special type of brain and personality.
I work as a midwife in the NHS and yes it can be very stressful in given situations but nothing like your job.

Whilst people may wonder what a CEO does each day to earn these very high salaries they must also think of the toll this can take on their physical and mental health.

One of the biggest things for me is that I need to be ready to be pulled into a meeting where I know nothing (and I mean literally nothing) on 2 mins notice about the deal or country or issue and have an opinion. And that opinion needs to be at least 80% right. That right there is my job. Instinct. And the consequences are multi million. We will cross check it but the time sensitive decision is made on my call.

I spend most of my time back home with. My family actively not answering questions about my job. Because they would absolutely think I was over exaggerating the level of responsibility I have. It’s absolutely there. I just deal with it( including in Covid)

I chose to teach as a second career, and experienced SLT teachers became the enemy. I loved the teaching, and the challenge of the performance because every single class is a performance, but the negativity was too awful. I retreated into managing pensions. There are some amazingly dedicated teachers slogging their guts out for not much, but they would have been better if they had done a commercial job before they started to teach... even if it was only a junior hospitality job.

My BIL makes that amount in sales for an aviation multinational. It took him 5 times to get GCSE English and more for maths. Did a media studies type degree (after doing GNVQ then HND) in an ex poly. Where he excels is in selling things, he has the gift of the gab and has been constantly headhunted. I don't know what he does on a daily basis but he's always answering his phone out of hours and has a lot of anxiety because one wrong move will cost him his job.

The cosplaying is strong in this thread.

Why would anyone pay someone £150k to play golf. Get real!

Big pay = pressure to perform, take big decisions, manage big budgets/teams ie big responsibility and sometimes be available outside work hours.

I advise my clients on matters including legal compliance. So, governance is on me. If things go wrong I have to get the right people together to create a solution, sometimes that's not possible and the worst happens.

I send about 5-7 hours a day in meetings where decisions are taken, so little time for actual work on strategy/plans most days which means I need to work fast and occasionally in the evening or on a weekend.

No golf, no posh lunches, sometimes posh dinners but they are def work. Most people in pressured jobs wish they could just to to work and forget about it when they get home. Sadly the majority of them can't forget work cos there is always something that needs doing that hasn't been completed yet - well that's the case in my field, anyway!

Silly comment. Obviously, those of us on lower and average incomes do try to move into senior positions, but getting past the interview is the big challenge.

The OP could have asked ChatGPT herself, if she so wished.

That applies to the vast majority of threads on here