Rosalind Resnick knew if she was ever going to be a chief executive officer,
she'd have to start her own company. So that's exactly what she
did.
Her company specializes in direct marketing on the Internet. It rents e-mail
lists in much the same way a catalog company might rent a list of personal
addresses in order to send catalogs to prospective customers.
Resnick has been actively involved in each and every aspect of her business
from day one. She wears many hats, doing everything from making executive
decisions to staying up until 1 a.m. filing papers. "When you're CEO
of a small company, your job isn't just to sit in a big office and give
orders," she says.
And let's face it, most CEOs run small businesses like Resnick's.
"I spend a lot of time on details that a big company CEO would see as being
way too small. A big part of my job is being a coach and mentor to my employees
in order to put together a winning team.
"When you're a big company, you can afford to hire people who have
years and years of experience and pay them top salaries. But when you're
a small company, you have to make every dollar count. That means hiring the
best people you can and working with them, training them and turning them
into the kind of employees who can produce value for your company."
Resnick says one of the problems with corporate leadership these days is
that CEOs are like baseball or football players. "They're high-priced
talent that goes from corporation to corporation. They don't know the
company, and they don't know the culture. They're expected to step
in and work miracles."
There's a lot to be said about someone who starts a company and, through
hard work, turns it into something big.
"I admire Bill Gates tremendously. He started out as a programmer and built
Microsoft from the ground up, which has made him a much more effective CEO,"
Resnick says. "I think one of the biggest mistakes a CEO can make is getting
too detached and too far away from the day-to-day operations of the company."
What advice would Resnick give to someone with a career goal of being a
chief executive officer? "If you're thinking about being a CEO, you need
to ask yourself if you're willing to do what it takes to start a business
from scratch. To learn every aspect of it, stay up until 1 a.m. in the morning,
work weekends, and do jobs that somebody else might consider menial in order
to build your company.
"If you don't want to get into the trenches and get your hands dirty,
then maybe you should take the corporate route. But for me, this has been
immensely more satisfying."
Beatrice Olivastri says that being a chief executive officer is very stimulating
and opens many doors.
"It's a position that allows you access to the equivalent senior position
in other organizations. But it brings with it a lot of responsibilities. It's
difficult to have a 9-to-5 job if you're the CEO of an organization,"
says Olivastri.
Being the CEO of a nonprofit voice for the environment has allowed Olivastri
to combine being an environmentalist with operating a business.
"I consider myself a businesswoman, but I'm an environmentalist first.
I'm making a contribution to the future of the world, the planet and
people, but at the same time, this is my career and my work. I think it's
easier for a woman, in a sense, to combine those things."
Though she feels there may be a glass ceiling for women in the corporate
community, the same doesn't apply in the nonprofit sector. "One might
wonder if the pay schedule may be different than in the corporate sector,
but I suspect the not-for-profit world lends itself to women."
Cary Howell, CEO of a communications company in Atlanta, believes in being
involved in the day-to-day operation of his company. "If we sit in our offices
with our doors closed, we have no earthly idea what the company is going through
as a whole."
Howell gets involved with everything from board meetings to handling customer
problems. And his hard work has paid off. His company, an Internet service
provider for businesses, has continued to grow and expand its services all
over the southeastern states.
And Howell doesn't allow the lofty title to go to his head. "I always
thought that CEOs had to be on a power trip in order to accomplish their tasks.
But since being one, I've found being on a power trip is going to cause
you 10 times more problems than you currently have."
People look to a CEO to see the stability and future of a company. "Our
job is to see the future, to be the single point of vision of
where that company's going to be six months, a year, three years and
five years down the road and beyond," says Howell.