The well-known saying 'it's tough at the top' rings true for charity chief executives whose organizations face fina ncial deficits, low morale and overstretched services. The CEOs responsible for giving a new lease of life to  The Brain Charity ,  St John's Hospice  and  Autism Together  offer their top tips for getting the job done effectively.

You need to be prepared to be unpopular to get things done, says the CEO of  The Brain Charity, Nanette Mellor, who was appointed to plug the organization's financial hole. "The last thing you need to think about is being liked by anybody. If you start to worry about trying to please everybody, then you're going to start to make the wrong decisions."