why is the role of a ceo so important ?

the american retailer jc penney hired an executive from apple for it’s ceo role

coming from apple , the executive was used to customers with an upscale background

he removed all the bargain / low priced items from jc penney and replaced them with upscale products

as a result , jc penney became to lose customers and business / revenue

so , it is very important to understand the customers before implementing the decisions

this is why the role of a ceo is so important