http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119543240896797405.html
This article in the Wall Street Journal talks about the results of a study about traits a successful CEO has. Persistance and efficiency beat out teamwork and flexibility (thought of as soft traits). It took a personal assessment of more than 300 CEOs and detailed their personality traits. The top traits being "following through on commitments, hiring Grade A players, analytical skills and setting high standards. Traits with less correlation included enthusiasm, treating people with respect, creativity, persuasion and listening skills."
I think these traits are ones you definitely want your boss to have, but the ones not ranked as high: treating people with respect and listening skills shocked me. I would have definitely thought these would have been at the top because if you dont treat your employees with respect, then how do you expect them to respect you and not having good listening skills really surprised me. How can you get to the top if you don't listen to those you work with along the way?
I just thought it was a good article that met our requirement for CEO characteristics:)
I think the key to the "hard traits" winning out over the "soft traits" is the last bit of the article that mentions the companies these hard-nosed CEOs are running are buy-out companies. Maybe these companies were doing so poorly they needed someone to come in and overhaul things without worrying about feelings. I read an article once that talked about this sort of thing. The type of leadership needed for an organization depends on the organization's needs at that point in time. It would be interesting for the group that did this study to further cross-reference leadership types with the stage or position of the organization.
ReplyDeleteI think, as the article points out, that the sample of CEO's used for the research helped lead to the required traits. "It may be that buyouts, with their high debt loads and frequent need to improve operating results in a hurry, attract especially tough-minded CEOs." When you are looking for a CEO for a particular situation, required traits may very. For instance, if a CEO was to be hired to grow and expand a company instead of preparing the company for a buyout, team work and respect would probably be more of a priority. In a buyout, there is less of a need to earn the respect of your employees, since you probably will not be working there long.
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