No I didn't down vote you, but in my experience that is exactly correct. If you start acting like the CEO you will eventually become the CEO. The tricky bit though is that often times people don't really know why the CEO acts as they do. And that is partly because there is information available to the CEO that isn't available to just anyone, and partly because the CEO is often balancing problems and opportunities that aren't necessarily visible to those outside their direct reports.

One of the first things I try to impress upon new managers is that their job is not about telling people what to do, rather their job is about getting the most done with the people they have on the most important parts of the problem. They have to take the whole set of possible things that could be worked on, and figure out the important ones to invest in. Sometimes the importance comes from being or staying competitive, sometimes the importance comes from keeping things alive long enough to get to the next milestone.