Insights: What exactly do leaders do and why is it so difficult?

We’ve all thought about it. What exactly does the CEO do all day? We may have considered this from the position of an employee, or launching a business and becoming the default CEO in the process, or perhaps being deep into a career full of leadership positions and taking a moment to reassess priorities. Whatever the case, it’s easy to fall into the trap of idealising someone else’s leadership, looking around and thinking that the well-known CEOs we see in the media are performing effortlessly. They’re not.

Effective leadership can be complex. According to recent data, 72 per cent of leaders report feeling burned out by the end of the day, and only 27 per cent feel they are highly effective at leading hybrid or virtual teams – a common issue these days. So, in this article, I’ll look first at why leadership is so difficult and reveal how the best leaders overcome this by understanding the qualities and skills necessary for success.

I’ll also give my view that, ultimately, it’s about mindset. You can’t stop the problems, challenges and difficulties arising – and you can’t fix them all, either. But you can control how you think about them and how you approach them. That’s why in this article you’ll find me continually going back to mindset as the key aspect of successful leadership.

What do leaders do?

We can make assumptions, but it’s best to look at the facts, and a particularly notable piece of research was commissioned to answer this question. In a study that started in 2006 and lasted until 2018, two Harvard professors tracked the daily activities of 27 CEOs at businesses that had an average annual revenue of over $13bn. They found that, on average, CEOs worked 9.7 hours daily and spent nearly 80 per cent of weekends (and 70per cent of their holidays) working.

Their time can be broken down as follows. Almost three-quarters of the CEO’s time was scheduled in advance, with the rest being more spontaneous. When we break this down further, 25 per cent of their time was focused on people and relationships, 25 per cent on business unit reviews, 21 per cent on strategy, 16% on organisation and culture, 3 per cent on professional development, and 1 per cent on crisis management.

When it comes to other top leadership positions, we can see a clear difference in the CEO setting the vision and driving the overall strategy, while the COO is primarily focused on the operational aspects of executing that vision. So these roles are distinct but interconnected. The CEO is shaping the company’s direction and engaging stakeholders, while the COO ensures the engine runs smoothly, aligning internal processes and resources to deliver on the agreed-upon goals. This separation is crucial, as it enables the CEO to focus on outward-facing responsibilities such as investor relations, partnerships, and long-term planning, while the COO concentrates on day-to-day operations and organisational efficiency.

At this point, it’s also worth separating ‘leadership’ and ‘management’. Yes, they are complementary, but they should remain distinct. Both are crucial for an organisation’s success, yet many businesses today suffer from excessive management and insufficient leadership. The true challenge lies not in choosing one over the other, but in fostering both leadership and management in tandem, ensuring they work together to support and balance each other.

So, let’s look at what the CEO does in more detail:

• Defining vision and strategy: The first task of any leader is setting a clear vision for the future. This means understanding where the organisation needs to go, analysing trends, and making decisions that will shape long-term success. Strategy development is more than just planning. It involves anticipating market shifts, responding to competitive challenges, and sometimes reinventing the organisation to stay relevant.
• Making tough decisions: Leaders must allocate resources in a way that maximises the company’s potential. But with resource limitations and competing priorities, these decisions are often difficult. Leaders must weigh immediate needs against long-term objectives and decide which projects or departments will receive funding, support and attention.
• Building culture: Culture is the backbone of any company, and leaders play a pivotal role in shaping and preserving it. They must communicate the company’s values, encourage a culture that aligns with its mission, and ensure that every employee feels valued and engaged. When cultural issues arise, leaders must address them head-on to maintain a positive, productive environment.
• Managing people: From hiring the right talent to mentoring future leaders, all C-suite members, and leaders more generally, are deeply involved in people management. This includes providing feedback, setting goals, and aligning individual contributions with organisational priorities. Leaders often have to make tough calls about staffing, including making personnel changes to support the business’s strategic needs.
• Navigating crisis and change: Crisis management requires resilience, composure and a relentless focus on finding solutions. These can range from team conflicts to communication breakdowns between departments or even simple errors that need immediate attention. Fires can flare up unexpectedly, and leaders often need to drop everything to deal with them.
• Delivering financial performance: Every leader is ultimately responsible for their organisation’s financial performance. This includes setting revenue targets, controlling expenses, and ensuring the company remains profitable and sustainable. Balancing financial goals with other priorities often requires tough trade-offs.

Why is leadership so difficult?

Leadership is often difficult because it encompasses three key challenges that never stop. First, there is the constant presence of uncertainty with leaders required to make decisions with incomplete information, weighing risks against potential rewards. This ambiguity can be a persistent source of stress, as each decision influences the organisation’s future and the lives of employees and stakeholders.

Second, accountability adds immense pressure. Everyone has a boss, and leaders are answerable to shareholders, employees, customers, and the wider public, leaving them under intense scrutiny. They must take responsibility for both successes and failures while navigating criticism.

Finally, the challenge of competing demands makes leadership especially taxing. Balancing financial goals, employee satisfaction, and other priorities requires leaders to manage short-term needs without losing sight of long-term objectives – a delicate task made even more challenging when resources are constrained.

How can you address the challenges and prepare for leadership?

Let’s start with mindset. Leaders who embrace a growth mindset will view challenges as opportunities to learn (rather than obstacles). They seek feedback, adapt to new information, and continuously strive to improve. This mindset helps them remain flexible in ever-changing environments and keeps them open to innovative solutions. By treating challenges as stepping stones, these leaders cultivate resilience and inspire others to do the same.

Leadership often involves high-stakes situations that can be emotionally draining. To manage these pressures, many leaders invest in emotional resilience training, learning techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, and cognitive behavioural strategies. While we saw earlier that leaders often don’t spend much time on professional development, learning these new approaches can help them process stress, maintain composure, and approach challenges with a clear mind.

In short, do the job better – and for longer. Maintaining physical and emotional well-being through exercise, rest, and reflection ensures leaders remain sharp and balanced. After all, resilient leaders are better equipped to navigate complex dynamics and sustain their focus in demanding roles.

So, while leadership responsibilities can be rigorous, the mindset brought to these tasks makes all the difference. Great leaders understand their team’s diverse motivations and work to align individual goals with organisational objectives. They practise clear, two-way communication, ensuring that expectations are mutual. Adaptability is also key as team dynamics and corporate goals change; successful leaders adjust their approaches to remain effective and supportive.

Strong leaders are also attentive listeners who foster a culture of open dialogue, encouraging collaboration and idea-sharing. Yet, leadership comes with challenges, including navigating personality clashes and managing diverse team dynamics. Not everyone will resonate with a leader’s style or decisions, and not everyone will like you, but what matters is the ability to inspire trust and respect even amid differences.

And let’s not forget delegation. Delegating tasks empowers teams, builds resilience across the organisation, and allows leaders to focus on high-impact decisions. As Bill Gates said, ‘As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.’

It’s not all struggle for leaders. One study showed that around 63% of C-suite executives find meaning in their work, with those numbers dropping off considerably as you move further down the organisational chart. Ultimately, the role of a leader – especially in large organisations – encompasses a wide array of challenging tasks and responsibilities. While these tasks are inherently difficult, leaders can develop the mindset and resilience needed to rise to the challenge.

Through a combination of practical strategies and mental preparation, they can equip themselves to lead effectively, inspire their teams, and navigate the complexities of modern business. Leadership may never be easy, but with the right approach, it can be both rewarding and impactful.

The writer is the head of Meydan Free Zone.