Skills
Chief Executive Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in chief executives, and how to build and show them.
What skills do chief executives need?
Chief Executives need technical skills such as strategic planning, financial management, and leadership, plus people skills like decision-making and communication. They also use tools such as Financial dashboards and Board portals.
Technical (hard) skills
- Strategic planning
- Financial management
- Leadership
- Negotiation
- Risk management
- Governance
People (soft) skills
- Decision-making
- Communication
- Vision
- Resilience
Tools, equipment and technology
- Financial dashboards
- Board portals
- ERP reports
- CRM data
- Presentation software
- Video conferencing
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how chief executives put their skills to work:
- How to prepare a quarterly board meeting
- How to set three company-wide priorities for the year
- How to lead an all-hands meeting
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Strategic planning” and “Financial management.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “decision-making,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as MBA near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our chief executive glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Chief Executive training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.