Overview
Sphere of Work
Top executives plan strategies and policies to ensure that an organization meets its goals. They coordinate and direct work activities of companies and organizations. Top executives include general and operations managers, who oversee activities that are too diverse to be classified into one area of management or administration, and chief executive officers (CEOs), who provide overall direction for companies and organizations. Top executives may own a stake in, or the entirety of, the company they oversee, such as a record label. They may come from a variety of backgrounds, such as finance, engineering, or computer science, depending on their industry.
Work Environment
Top executives work in nearly every industry. In the music industry, for example, they lead record labels and are the driving force behind the labels’ successes. They work for both small and large organizations, ranging from businesses in which they are the sole employee to firms with hundreds or thousands of employees. Because executives often are held responsible for their organization’s success, their work may be stressful. Travel for business purposes is common, as is interacting with other high-level executives during day-to-day business. Most top executives work full-time, and many work more than 40 hours per week, including evenings and weekends.
Occupation Interest
Top executives are driven to succeed both personally and in terms of the business they oversee. In many cases they have climbed the corporate ladder over many years, with the goal of one day leading the organization. This takes dedication, perseverance, and keen business and networking skills. In other cases, the executive has played an integral role in founding the company, such as a tech startup or independent record label, building it from the ground up and taking a personal risk in order to see it succeed and grow. They may also wear many “hats” in an organization along the way, performing varied duties out of necessity, which ultimately gives them more experience in how the organization or industry functions. Still other executives may inherit the role in a family business, but rarely does this happen without the person first working for the company, or at least preparing for the role through years of schooling and outside work experience.
Profile
Working Conditions: Inside
Education Needs: Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, Work Experience
Licensure/Certification: Varies
Opportunities for Experience: Growth within an Organization
Interest Score: EC
Duties and Responsibilities
-
Establishing and executing departmental or organizational goals, policies, and procedures
-
Directing and overseeing an organization’s financial and budgetary activities
-
Managing general activities related to making products and providing services
-
Consulting with other executives, staff, and board members about general operations
-
Negotiating or approving contracts and agreements
-
Appointing department heads and managers
-
Analyzing financial statements, sales reports, and other performance indicators
-
Identifying places to cut costs and to improve performance, policies, and programs
A Day in the Life—Duties and Responsibilities
Top executives’ responsibilities largely depend on an organization’s size. In small organizations, such as an independent retail store, an owner or manager often is responsible for hiring, training, quality control, and day-to-day supervisory duties. In large organizations, chief executives typically focus on formulating policies and planning strategies, while general and operations managers direct day-to-day operations.
Chief executive officers (CEO), who are also known by titles such as executive director, managing director, or president, provide overall direction for companies and organizations. Chief executive officers manage company operations, formulate and implement policies, and ensure that goals are met. They collaborate with and direct the work of other top executives and typically report to a board of directors. There may be other types of chief executives-such as chief operating officers (COOs), chief financial officers (CFOs), or chief human resources officers-who manage a specific part of the organization. The knowledge, skills, and job duties that these executives have differ, depending on which department they oversee.
General and operations managers oversee an array of activities relating to the management or administration of a company. Responsibilities may include formulating policies, directing daily operations, and planning the use of materials and human resources. These managers make staff schedules, assign work, and ensure that projects are completed. In some organizations, the tasks of CEOs may overlap with those of general and operations managers.
Conversation With... MARTIN ATKINS
Producer, drummer, documentary filmmaker, DJ, and entrepreneur
Music Industries Coordinator, Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois
In the field, over 40 years
Martin Atkins was a member of Public Image Ltd. and Killing Joke. He founded ‘industrial supergroup’ Pigface, as well as The Damage Manual and Murder Inc., and has contributed to Ministry and Nine Inch Nails (for which he won a Grammy). He is the owner of Invisible Records and Mattress Factory Recording Studios (est. 1988), and founder of the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music, which opened in 2021. He is the author of Tour:Smart, Welcome to the Music Business....You’re F*ck*d!, and Band:Smart.
What was your individual career path in terms of education/training, entry-level job, or other significant opportunity?
I don’t mean for this to be a chapter’s worth of an answer—but, as I tell my students, there is no straight line from A to B. ‘Walk through the doors that are open’ (Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inn). So, my path has been circuitous.
I left school at the age of 16. I’d started drumming at the age of 9, joined my first band at the age of 11, and was performing 8 shows a week (7 nights and Sunday afternoons), earning a decent amount of money. I left school in the United Kingdom with 5 ‘O-levels,’ and then moved to London, where I ended up joining a band with Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols at the age of 20. We performed live sessions on the radio and TV and toured the world for the next 5 years with considerable success. After that, I joined a band called Killing Joke in the United Kingdom, whom I also started to manage. I founded Invisible Records in 1988, went out on the road with a band called Ministry for a tour that was recorded for a live album, and started my ‘industrial supergroup,’ Pigface. I also worked with Nine Inch Nails on the video for “Head Like a Hole,” and on the Grammy Award-winning track “Wish.”
Because my label was spending so much money on various studios, it felt like a no-brainer to start my own—however, there’s a huge difference between starting one and trying to attract clients. I taught myself to engineer and started to use the studio for the label’s benefit.
Once we had several interesting artists with well-recorded releases, we needed people to see these artists, so we began organizing ‘package tours’ for our main artist, Pigface, with several of our bands also on the bills as support. We provided promotional materials to venues and, I believe, started one of the first street-teams of fans across the country, who were prepared to help as ‘boots on the ground.’ They promoted shows in return for tickets and being able to hang with the bands. We also created promotional postcards with partners and a special, custom CD for the tour. This was all a lot of work, but the tours were successful. When I heard about interns, or students who would help for free in return for experience, I went to Columbia College Chicago to get some.
I made a presentation for the faculty, and when it was over, they asked, “When can you start?” I replied that I could take students back to my offices that afternoon, but they said, “No, when can you start to teach this?” So, with no formal academic qualifications, just my decades of experience doing it, I started to teach.
At this time, I realized that there wasn’t really a useful book about touring, so I created one: the 600-page Tour:Smart, that became an Amazon bestseller in the Music Business category. Speaking gigs started to pour in—I toured Norway 5 times, keynoted Melbourne Australia Music Week, spoke at South by Southwest, and much more.
In amongst all of this, I started to design and write curriculum, and earned my associate degree in audio, and my bachelor degree in entertainment and media business. More recently, I earned my master’s degree in creative media from Middlesex University in the United Kingdom.
I still perform (my band had a 19-city tour in 2019, featuring Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, Danny Carey from Tool, and many others); I have my label; teach at Millikin University; and have just opened the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music here in Chicago, as an opportunity for myself and for students to make their own path, and to explore the next level of opportunities as the eighties and nineties audience ‘ages out.’
I firmly believe in working several opportunities at once, and in helping communities and others. I call it ‘plate spinning.’ If you have ever seen one of those vaudeville performers spinning plates on sticks—that is my life.
What are the most important skills and/or qualities for someone in your profession?
#1 Adaptability—The music business has changed so much in my lifetime, in terms of the formats through which music has been delivered—from vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs, then downloads and streaming, and now vinyl again. And NFTs!
#2 A ‘roll up your sleeves, show must go on’ mentality—This means that it doesn’t matter who is ultimately responsible—you do whatever it takes to make the show happen. I’ve cleaned up, helped re-wire a sound system, moved a show to another club—anything to make the show happen. Without that, there is nothing—no pay, no t-shirts, no fans, no place to stay, no food, no hotel—so, you have to make a situation work no matter what. The end result is an attitude that is unstoppable in the regular workplace!
What do you wish you had known going into this profession?
That it is not a 3-to-5-year opportunity. Clearly, as I enter my 43rd year at a very high level of the business, it doesn’t have to be.
Are there many job opportunities in your profession? In what specific areas?
With Covid, the live touring opportunities in the supporting industries of sound, merchandise and logistics have taken a huge hit—but are coming back! We currently have opportunities in the studio, the museum, and in general.
How do you see your profession changing in the next five years, how will technology shift, and what skills will be required?
The soft skills of customer service are always in demand—much more so now, since some people have pushed the position that these jobs might be ‘beneath them.’ Dealing with people in whatever situation, solving problems, is very much a necessity.
What do you enjoy most about your job? What do you enjoy least about your job?
The creativity, having an idea and the mental fortitude and focus to make something happen that others cannot see. It can be exhausting, but I’m used to dealing with people who don’t get it. (I’ve stopped trying to get them to get it, and I just go about my business. It’s actually great that they don’t get it—if they did, they might be first to market with my idea.)
Can you suggest a valuable “try this” for students considering a career in your profession?
Take on a customer service job, work for a cause (I can’t think of any situation that isn’t made better by partnering with a cause). When sending an angry email, put everything you have into the writing of it: snarky, sarcastic, rude, funny—put it all in there, get it all out! Just don’t send it. Ever.
Be helpful, stop worrying about making your own way, and help others—that turns out to be the very best way to make your own way.