Successful CEOs: Who Are They?

The second in a series about raising awareness and sensitivity to the
needs of leadership development.

by Peter Capodice

One of the most widely-studied group of business people is the successful CEOs. In Capodice’s previous newsletter article, we discussed how to identify and nurture potential leaders. In this newsletter, we will examine the traits and environments that help leaders achieve high levels of success within their respective organizations. These leaders are highly rated by their boards in terms of actual performance and the investment’s financial return.

Capodice and Associates has surveyed many exceptional leaders. These CEOs generally possessed the same types of traits, whether these were innate behavioral traits, or characteristics learned in the course of their careers. All leaders were efficient, aggressive, persistent, and proactive. They also possessed “soft” skills such as being flexible, a good listener, open to criticism, and a team player. And many of the leaders had traits that not only helped them be successful but also helped them adapt in high-pressure situations, such as being persuasive, organized, analytical, and calm. Interestingly, these characteristics were not related to either age or gender.

Along with specific skills or traits, there are actions that successful leaders have in common. These essential attributes include:

1. A dedication to the company’s vision.
2. The ability to communicate that vision to stakeholders.
3. A focus on macromanagement: having an awareness of operational details, but not actively involved in those details.
4. Keeps abreast of industry trends and leverages that information to make decisions about the future.
5. Builds exceptional management teams and supports their decisions.
6. Cultivates strong relationships with customers and understands their needs, challenges and business goals.

While many success-related characteristics can determine whether a CEO candidate is hired, they don’t necessarily ensure the leader’s success. General ability or talent matters when interviewing for a job and attracting investors. But during the course of a CEOs career, the softer skills like flexibility and good listening might not matter as much as being persistent, efficient and proactive.

A recent example shows how much these traits can make a difference in a leader’s success. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, was particularly talented in the “hard” skills of a leader, but was not noted for possessing the softer skills. By contrast, his successor Jeff Immelt has been hailed as a leader with great flexibility, good listening skills, and favoring a team approach. During these challenging times, the “hard” skills would be much more helpful, and thus it is possible that Immelt will not be as successful as Welch. In fact, GE increased in value by tens of billions of dollars under Welch, and has declined by tens of billions of dollars under Immelt.

The difference is the connection between a leader’s skills and personality, and the culture of the organization he or she will lead. The successful leader’s needs must mesh with the corporate culture and the objectives of the organization. Where there is not a good match between these two factors, the leader’s needs will not be met and he or she will struggle to achieve success, even while possessing all of a leader’s best skills. If a leader is simply plugged into an organization without understanding their individual and organizational needs, the person is likely to be set up for failure.

The most successful CEOs possess exceptional leadership traits, and they can communicate these traits to others through mentorship. However, the right environment is the other key predictor in whether a CEO will become a top performer. When both of these factors come together in one company, the result is success for the business as well as the leader.