Executive Ledership Attributes for Success

Someone recently posed the question:

If someone was to ask you to describe what the primary and secondary skills or leadership attributes that were most important for the success of a Senior Executive (e.g. CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, VP Sales, VP Marketing) working within your firm, organization, or agency, what would they be and why?

I read the question as factors influencing the success of the “executive”, not the “company”.  This is important as there are executives who flourish in poorly run companies.

I would say self and situational awareness are tied for first.  Emotional intelligence and integrity run a close second.  Why not intelligence, industry knowledge or experience?  What about ethics or leadership by example?

History Proves Conventional Wisdom is Suspect

Formal education and Industry Knowledge – The list of successful leaders with no college degree is quite long:

1.       Henry Ford

2.       Andrew Carnegie

3.       David Geffen (Dreamworks)

4.       David Geffen (Carnival Cruise Lines, Miami Heat)

5.       Steve Jobs (Apple)

6.       Haim Saban (Paul Mitchell, Patron’)

7.        John Paul DeJoria (Power Rangers, TV/Media)

8.       David Green (Hobby Lobby)

People like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie entered their respective industries with no knowledge whatsoever.   Formal education and specialized skills are in great supply and can be bought.

They quickly became forces to reckon with.  Also, why do some senior executives excel when changing industries?  Although important, these examples suggest education and industry knowledge are not highest on the list.

Experience – Experience can play a role in executive success, but so can having an experienced subordinate.  The value of this experience is largely dependent on when, where and how the experience was acquired.  Each company has unique elements to its culture, management style, processes, etc.  In addition, why do some make successful executives at a young age and most not at all?  Again, although important, experience gets bumped down on the list.

Ethics – Let’s not be naive.  Ethics are dependent on the organizational culture and global geography.     This is important, but subjective.  It will help executives move ahead in some companies, but not all.  It’s sad but true.  It also moves down on the list.

Leadership by example – Great in supporting integrity, it depends heavily on what the “example” is.  If the leader has a misconceived notion of how to behave, poor habits and/or follows a poor strategy they are leading everyone to doom.  Even worse, the leader is brilliant but leads without consideration to the culture and strategy of the organization.  Once again, the pied piper of doom.  Drop this attribute down the list, but not too far. 

 

Leading by Recognition (plan, sense & react) Has Worked for Years

They first key to their success started with self-awareness.  They knew what they wanted, where they excelled and where they were weak.  They used this to identify skilled people they needed to surround themselves with to achieve a goal.  They didn’t have to be all things to the business.

The second key to their success is situational awareness.  They were savvy enough to read market players and define who they should engage on their team to drive success.  They had a sense for when to be passive, aggressive, defensive, etc.  Identifying when a significant event is probable to occur and how to position properly for success is crucial.  The wrong action during a critical time could be devastating.    The right action could be monumental.  This mix of intuition, sensibility and control is hard to master.

The third key, emotional intelligence is closely akin to situational awareness.  Reading key constituents both inside and outside the company is critical.  It is required to determine what actions to take in a given situation.  The same situation may require different actions for different players based on any number of variables.  This mix of listening, reading people’s queues, politics and diplomacy can actually be taught.   Mastering it is another story.

Finally, integrity plays a key role.  By this I do not mean ethics.  Ethics define what’s good or bad based on cultural norms.  I mean it strictly as “being structurally sound”.  Integrity provides a foundation of trust in the leader through:

1.       Sending consistent messages

2.       Meeting commitments to individuals, the business and its customers

3.       Leading by example

4.       Taking responsibility for actions and choices

5.       Reacting consistently to situations over time

6.       Sharing credit for success with those involved

Personal and situational awareness provide the opportunity to excel.  Emotional intelligence opens the door to drive success.  Integrity creates the foundation for long-term success.