Glossary
Chief Executive Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential chief executive terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key chief executive vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in chief executive training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Board of directors
- Group that oversees the CEO.
- C-suite
- Top executives.
- Earnings call
- Quarterly investor update.
- EBITDA
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
- Fiduciary duty
- Duty to act in the organization’s interest.
- Governance
- How an organization is directed.
- KPI
- Key performance indicator.
- Merger and acquisition
- Combining or buying companies.
- Mission statement
- Statement of purpose.
- P&L
- Profit and loss statement.
- Owner of company stock.
- Stakeholder
- Anyone affected by the organization.
- Strategy
- Long-term plan.
- Succession plan
- Plan for future leaders.
- Vision
- Where the organization is going.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Chief Executive practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Chief Executive training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.