Heard of "C-Level Decision Makers?". But what the heck is C-Level or C-Suite in Management terms? (Hint: All starting from C :)

I had an interview recently, where I was discussing the importance of Social Media with the person interviewing me. While I stressed that Social Media is extremely important, the interviewer's opinion was that it was not relevant in their case, since they mostly dealth with C-Levels. I paused for a moment, thinking, "What the heck is C-Level?" I had no clue. I had to actually ask the person "What is C-Suite?" The person explained to me, and the interview continued. But I felt mildly embarassed.

I am writing this blog post below, so that you do know what C-Level means and so that you shall not be embarassed in an interview.

Info from the links:

• http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/C-level
• http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/c-suite.asp#axzz1qgTXpaFy

C-level: is an adjective used to describe high-ranking executive titles within an organization.C, in this context, stands for Chief.

C-Suite: A widely-used slang term used to collectively refer to a corporation's most important senior executives. C-Suite gets its name because top senior executives' titles tend to start with the letter C, for chief, as in chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief information officer. 

More about 'C-Suite': The C-suite is considered the most important and influential group of individuals at a company. Being a member of this group comes with high-stakes decision making, a more demanding workload and high compensation. As "chief" titles proliferate, however, job-title inflation may decrease the prestige associated with being a member of the C-suite. 

C-level titles include (among many other possibilities):

• CCO (Chief Compliance Officer)
• CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
• COO (Chief Operating Officer)
• CTO (Chief Technolgy Officer)
• CIO (Chief Information Officer)
• CFO (Chief Financial Officer)
• CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer)
• CSO (Chief Security Officer)
• CMO (Chief Medical Officer)