I am trying to determine what services I could provide to C level
employees (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO) on a contract basis and what barriers I
will face.
I have an MBA, and a BS in Software Engineering. My experience
includes starting a small company and selling it, running government
contract jobs, computer support, network administration, programming,
and database administrator.
I completed the MBA this spring and have since been reading management
and business books.
The service I am thinking of would be in between an executive
assistant and a executive consultant. My goal would be to take on
tasks for them that would fit with my business and technical
background to reduce their load and save them time.

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Clarification of Question by crash-ga on 28 Oct 2003 09:20 PST

Maybe the question is not clear since I have seen no response.
The question is: What tasks could I take on for a CEO/COO/CFO/CIO as a
contractor/consultant given my business and technical background and
MBA?
Some Ideas might be research of technology with a summary of how it
could be applied to a particular company or industry, research on how
competition is using technology, research on vendors with a
recommendation based on the particular company... I have never been an
executive, so I don't know if any of these would be valuable or if
there are other tasks that I could do to free up time for strategic
thinking/planning.

I thought this would be a fairly simple question for someone that has
worked with people at the executive level or as an executive. Is there
anyone out there with a background like that?

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 28 Oct 2003 09:40 PST

Crash --

The answer really depends on personal interviews with CEOs/etc to
determine what would help them leverage their skills.

Bill Gates, who is both highly technical and highly independent, has
consistently had someone who's served as a personal assistant:
Derek Smith
http://www.windowstuff.com/catalog/derekware.asp

Tsutomu Shimomura
http://www.camworld.com/nyt99.4.2.html

Yet I can guarantee you that you'll rarely encounter them in a meeting
with Gates.

At any given time, a challenged executive can use someone with skills
that they're missing (experience in Japanese culture; knowledge of
GUIs -- the possibilities are limitless) to seek opportunities for
change.  Line managers can be too busy with operational issues to deal
with these strategic or long-term opportunities.  An outside voice can
also be valuable for its ability to provide new perspectives.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA