Organizational Chart

Categories: Company Management

All you really need to know: the board of directors is elected by the common shareholders; they hire the CEO; the CEO hires everyone else. That's about it.

But if you really want to get more granular, org charts come in many flavors. Like...you might have reporting to the COO the head of tech or engineering, and the head of sales, and the head of product, and maybe the head of international distribution or something like that.

Some org charts are very vertical; like...at Ford Motor Company, there are 23 rungs from the CEO to the guy who snaps on the windshield wipers at the plant. At an investment company, there might only be 3 or 4 rungs from the bottom tier analyst to the PIO (principal invesment officer), or whatever the top rungs are.

The key idea: find a seat near the coffee machine. You'll always have access to "everyone."

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)