Chief Everything Officer: A field guide for small organisation leaders

Small organisation leaders are less Chief Executive Officers, and more Chief Everything Officers. With tiny budgets and teams, they have huge responsibility and huge impact.

More than 99% of UK companies and 96% of UK charities are classified as small organisations.

‘Chief Everything Officer’ is a field guide for all leaders of micro and small organisations. It is an accompaniment for leaders in all aspects of their role: from looking after themselves to avoid burnout; applying to the right position; strategic and operational matters; and their smooth transition out. It is a practice guide full of detailed information and how-tos that can be implemented straight after reading.

It has been written by a small organisation leader for small organisation leaders.

Chief Everything Officer - front and back covers of book

About the author

Flóra Raffai is a small organisation leader, trustee, and coach. Since 2015, she has been a Chief Executive Officer at small organisations, from a newly formed charity, a decades old awarding body, and a century old charity. She has served as a trustee and mentor for several small organisations, and is currently the Chair of Trustees at a Cambridge-based infrastructure charity.

She explains why she wrote the book:

“I wrote Chief Everything Officer originally for myself as a collection of my key learnings from my years as a small organisation CEO. It was designed to be a reference point where I could look up a topic, remind myself of what I had learned, and support my growth as a leader. I decided to publish it to help other leaders new to the role and those facing new situations.

”It does not need to be read cover to cover (although you are more than welcome to do so) – it is intended to be more of a field guide that you can dip in and out of depending on your need. The book is a summary of key information and advice based on my own experiences – there are many references to other books written by experts that go into much more depth on each topic that you can explore where you have the interest and the time.”