[programminggeek]

A lot of engineers would make terrible CEOs because they don't understand the basic tenants of business. Most software engineers don't like charging appropriately or spending appropriately on things that make the company money. There is a huge aversion to sales, marketing, and advertising.

If the CEO doesn't make sure the company makes money, the company will fail. I see this a lot in smaller companies. Larger companies probably don't let engineers get to the higher ranks unless they can make the company serious amounts of money.

Ultimately a business is about making money, and the CEO has to make sure that happens. Otherwise, you aren't much of a CEO.

[thenmar]

The flip side, of course, is the non-technical CEO walking down to engineering and shouting, "We need more money! Double the number of lines of code you are producing!"

[imgabe]

tenets

Although if your business happens to have tenants, you should understand those too.

[thomaslangston]

Ultimately a business is about whatever the owner says it is about. Money is the lifeblood, but not always the purpose of the a company.

Great COOs and CFOs make sure that lifeblood is vibrant, while CEOs can focus on executing on the company's designated purpose.

[UK-AL]

However an engineer would be hard to bullshit to in those areas. They would focus on the numbers, and try to calculate returns.