The CEO of a company I worked at for 40 years, when asked by another employee who was most important, the employees, the customers, or the stockholders, replied, “The employees, the customers, and the stockholders form an equilateral triangle, with the stockholders at the top.”
Your CEO was absolutely correct — stockholders are at the top of the triangle — held up by employees and customers.
Happy customers and employees make happy stockholders, not the other way around.