Leadership Conversations: Challenging High Potential Managers to Become Great Leaders

CHAPTER 25

Conversations at the Top

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.

—WALTER LIPPMANN

In many organizations, the leader at the top is called the chief executive officer (CEO), and his or her primary colleagues are also called chiefs: chief operating officer (COO) and chief financial officer (CFO), for example. In the last decade or so, the practice has spilled into the federal government, where—by act of Congress—large agencies must have a chief technology officer (CTO), a chief human capital officer (CHCO), and a CFO. The practice is less common, but not unusual, in the military and nonprofit organizations. Collectively, we refer to these individuals as CXO leaders. You ...