The CEO just does what the board are pushing for

Too many people don’t understand this.

Usually[1], CEO’s exists mostly to be the public fall guy for the faceless board’s decisions, and those are mostly shaped by the shareholder’s unending drive for profit. The only real subtlety is whether that drive for profit is short or long term, which drives expansion policy.

[1] Certain high profile CEOs excepted, who have a lot of weight with the board’s direction because they founded the company or are considered too valuable to lose.