Want To Be The Next CEO? Five Subtle Must-Haves To Be CEO Ready

What would you do differently if you were named the chief executive officer (CEO) of your company tomorrow? A candidate’s answer to this question provides many insights into how the person thinks about the company, the competitive landscape and the job of CEO. It also helps test candidates’ true readiness for the top job. The thinking behind the response may be as or more important than the response itself. Providing a long list of action items or strategic initiatives, for example, does not necessarily demonstrate a person’s CEO-readiness, and may create an impression that the executive is overeager or arrogant. Responding with too long a pause and extensive reflection may be seen as a significant signal in its own way as well, coming off as unpreparedness. In the industrial and diversified manufacturing sectors, companies are often led by executives who are engineers by training and have developed the requisite intangible soft skills to round out the pragmatic nature of their business and core skill sets. Agreed, the technical knowledge needed to execute product strategy in, say, an aerospace and defense supplier is much different than the skill set needed to launch products in a retail clothing company. With that said, supply chain is supply chain, finance is finance, and operations is operations, right? Wrong. The variable factor in all these comparisons is people. There is no amount of machine learning out there that will teach a CEO how to motivate his or her employees, negotiate the best deal with their customers, champion and catalyze culture change or build an environment that fosters diversity and inclusion. When a company board selects the next CEO, directors often deliberate on the candidates’ experience. The experience is what gets them to the table. However, it is the "fit" with the board’s view of the context for the role that leads to selection. Further, alignment and fit with the board is paramount to succeeding as CEO and ensuring that a strong board culture is built. This manifests itself, especially in private-equity backed situations, that usually begin and end with demanding targets. While there are many capabilities a board might look for in the next CEO, here are the five subtle must-have traits that influence a CEO’s success: 1) Executive Presence: This is not just looking the part. We all know plenty of empty expensive suits. Executive presence is how one communicates in a way that commands respect. Someone who can articulate complex topics in a simple way. One who is not just waiting for their turn to speak, rather someone who listens and thoughtfully responds to the question within the flow. A leader who can get into the details with analytical rigor and demonstrate their passion for the business and their willingness to invest the time to understand the situation, strategy, execution and, of course, the result. 2) Ability to Read the Audience: Many times, executives simply do not know what the audience needs to hear or how to articulate a message that can help drive results. If employee morale is low and the leader adopts a more top-down approach of barking orders and demands on budget, it will not resonate with the audience and nor get the desired result. Similarly, if employees have given it their all and they all know it, the room may call for some praise and acknowledgement. The best CEO's are able to read their constantly changing audience from customers to employees in order to get the intended result and response. To do this, it helps for CEOs to keep their ego in check, to share the credit and view themselves as part of the team. This is especially critical when in rooms where every person has a different agenda; allowing that to flow organically is critical. 3) Sense of Humor: We all know people who take themselves too seriously. As a CEO, one will be on the fast track to a heart attack and severance without a sense of humor. Being able to laugh at oneself, learn from mistakes and find common ground to share laughs over, can make a big impact on how one is perceived and can have a huge influence on company culture. The adage "nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care" serves true here. 4) A Master of Time: One of the best and illuminating conversations on this important topic was between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, where they discussed the importance of CEOs having control over their own schedules and how they use their time. In this dialogue, they share that the most effective CEOs set aside time every single day to think and reflect — and work ON vs. IN their business, reiterating that time is the only thing money can't buy. 5) Consistency and Transparency: To be an effective leader and to ensure alignment with one’s vision and strategy, nothing is more important than delivering a consistent message about the company’s vision and objectives, and being transparent about the company’s progress and challenges. CEOs who foster a culture where bad news is punished, and ultimately suppressed, are unlikely to be successful over the long term. Transparency can help motivate employees and provide a sense of purpose tied to the company vision and their role in achieving it. Conclusion There are many other factors that determine whether an executive who checks all the boxes for these five intrinsic traits will get the top job. However, even leaders with most relevant business expertise and experience can struggle to get the best performance from the organization without an executive presence, the ability to read an audience, a healthy sense of humor, savvy time management and a consistent message. Credit: Colin Graham

Want To Be The Next CEO? Five Subtle Must-Haves To Be CEO Ready

Henry Cobblah

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