Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) serve as the face of their companies. However, the duties of a CEO of a small business and a public conglomerate differ quite a lot. It’s something that experienced executive Michael Polk knows all too well. “There are lots of different variables that can contribute to the kind and scope of work being different for a CEO,” he explains.
After a 40-plus-year career serving in leadership roles for Kraft, Unilever, Newell Brands, and other businesses, Polk knows how the role of CEO should shift depending on an organization’s needs. Michael Polk breaks down how CEO responsibilities change based on company size and structure.
Michael Polk’s Experience in Large, Public Companies
It’s impossible for the CEO of a conglomerate like Unilever to tackle on-the-ground issues personally. Michael Polk argues that CEOs in these companies have to master the art of delegation and resource allocation. “The way you do that is by focusing on the strategic agenda of the company in allocating resources in a way that delivers against the strategic plan you’ve got. You’re typically working through other people and leading through other people to get things done,” he explains.
To that end, CEOs have to be able to manage a wider variety of talent in large, public companies. “The depth of talent in big companies tends to be much broader than it is in smaller companies. The role of the CEO adapts to that talent profile,” Michael Polk says.
CEOs are expected to sit at the helm of a company, but in Michael Polk’s experience, overseeing a large, public company required planning his time and priorities differently. “Your time is allocated differently. As a CEO of a public company, I was certainly spending thirty percent of my time with investors and with the public markets. As a leader of a large public company, you are obviously clearly accountable for unlocking shareholder value for your investors,” he says. “Whether it’s public or private, your role is to create value.”
One of the biggest differences between leading large versus small companies is a public company’s responsibility to perform. “In the public company environment, you are reporting results quarterly to the public markets. You’ve got to set expectations and deliver against those expectations every year and in some cases every quarter,” Polk explains. In private equity owned companies like Polk’s, while monthly and quarterly results matter as measure of consistency, the time horizon is different with the goal being to monetize your owner’s investment over a three to five year horizon. That creates less focus on delivery today and more on the longer-term value creation agenda.
Lessons Learned From Leading Small, Private Businesses
Michael Polk currently works at Implus, a relatively small private equity owned company focused on growth and transformation. It’s a refreshing pivot for Polk, who acknowledges both the blessings and challenges of being in the private market after a career in large public corporations.
Polk says, “While the talent in my company is hungry and competitive, they tend to be younger and have less breadth of experience” and that requires more hands-on management from CEOs. “I play a different role in terms of my leadership profile. I’m leading by doing and by modeling behaviors that I want my team to adopt,” Michael Polk says.
The smaller size of the company results in the organization being much leaner and flatter. This draws Polk closer to those who are doing the work. This makes the experience for Polk at Implus so special. “It’s a completely different experience in that respect and it’s a lot of fun” he says. “I’m doing marketing with the marketing team. I’m doing the strategic selling, the design of our selling systems and the design of our go-to-market programs with the commercial team. In many ways it is a back-to-the-future experience as I am doing the work I loved doing 20 years back in my career.”
In some ways, Polk finds the public markets less forgiving and at times less long-term focused. “We are transforming Implus into professionalized fitness accessories platform company. We have been given the resources to fundamentally change this company and create a stronger more sustainable platform for growth and we are on our way to do just that,” he says. “As a private equity owned company, we carry more debt than public companies typically do and we are quite focused on delivering our cash KPIs as a result, but I find the preconceived notion that private equity owned companies are not strategically focused to be wrong. Our owners are focused on the strategic development of the company because they know that this orientation will contribute to long-term health of the company and the EBITDA multiple they generate on a transaction.”
Small businesses might not have the resources of large public companies, but leaders like Michael Polk Newell Brands former CEO, have more flexibility to take the risks necessary to transform the company. “Being privately owned allows you as an executive to take maybe a little bit longer view on the strategic direction of the company without the short-term trade-offs and pressures that you get in a public company environment. There’s an ambition to create value over time and transform the company and deliver transformative value creation as a result of the work we’re doing,” he explains.
Adapting For Impact
CEO is undoubtedly one of the most challenging but rewarding professional roles. After more than four decades at the helm of various businesses, Michael Polk believes that CEOs perform best when they adapt to the circumstances of their organization, regardless of its size. “Accessibility, authenticity, and making sharp choices are all central to being successful in the role,” Michael Polk concludes.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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