The CEO of a company sets the vision, makes a set of rules to establish a company culture, builds the management team, then leads the team on the journey to make the vision a reality. The CEO needs to be able to fly at thirty thousand feet to be able to see the forest from the trees.
The management team is tasked with using the set of rules to realize the vision. They are similar to referees in a game, making sure that the game is played according to the rules. Generally the environment may be changing and the rules need to be tweaked. The management team typically operates at ground level amongst the trees and generally cannot see the forest.
The entrepreneur in a successful start-up has to learn to be both the CEO and the manager. He/she needs to fly high to establish the vision and see how the forest is progressing but also needs to come down to ground level to keep planting the trees in the forest.
