The Temperament of the Ideal CEO

There was an interesting article published in the Harvard Business Review How the Best CEOs Differ from Average Ones (15 November 2016). The paper used extensive psychometric profiling from three data bases and is an excellent read.

The author, Dean Stamoulis, identified two traits in particular of the ideal CEO: an ability to embrace appropriate risks and a bias toward acting and capitalizing on opportunities. The successful CEO is significantly less cautious and more likely to act when compared to other senior executives. Also in defiance of the convention stereotype, successful CEOs are not consistently extroverted or self-promoting. Six other traits differentiate the typical CEO from other executives on a statistically significant basis: drive and resilience, original thinking, the ability to visualize the future, team building, being an active communicator and the ability to catalyse others to action.

In my Emotional Intelligence for Management workshops I use the leadership model developed by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Stanford Business School. In his seminal book Managing with Power—Politics and Influence in Organisations he identifies six characteristics of the leader.

Energy: The first common characteristic of leaders (as opposed to other people) is their energy and physical stamina. Leaders are the first in the office and the last to leave. Before they get to the office and after they leave they participate in other activities. During the day they continue to be active in a round of meetings. They are rarely sick.

Focus: Contrary to the popular view, perhaps pushed by the recruitment consultants, successful general managers are not general. Typically the people who become managing directors do so by focusing their energy and avoiding wasted effort. They succeed by focusing their efforts in one industry and generally one company.

Empathy: Successful leaders are aware of other people. They spend time thinking about the behaviour and personality of their colleagues and employees. They put themselves in other people’s shoes.

Flexibility: To succeed as a leader it is necessary to be able to modify one’s behaviour. Flexibility is essential to success, particularly for managers. People may not like flexibility in the abstract but they do like what it is able to accomplish.

Conflict: Leaders are willing to engage, when necessary in conflict and confrontation. Many people believe that to get along you go along. This belief is inculcated from an early age. However, leaders have discovered that conflict will often provide you far more power than pliability.

Team spirit: While confrontation is a key to success, another key—particularly in the larger organisation, is the ability to submerge one’s ego and become a team player during one’s career.

I then use these six characteristics to identify the core emotional drives of the ideal leader using the 7MTF model?

The first is the Socialiser or S component. The S component provides two characteristics of the ideal leader, energy and team spirit. Socialisers have far more energy than any other component and their desire to meet and communicate with people makes them good team players.

The second key component is the Politician or P component. This provides two more characteristics of the ideal leader, conflict and focus. P style people naturally like to argue, they debate well and are usually forceful and articulate when expressing their views. In addition, P style people see life as a competition, and more importantly as one they have the drive to win. Thus, when they join an organisation they soon set themselves the goal of working their way to the top. They will become focussed in that aim and generate much emotional energy getting there. They are resilient.

The final key component is the GoGetter or G component. This provides the empathy and flexibility so necessary for a leader’s success. G-style people spend a lot of time trying to work out what other people are thinking and planning to do. They put themselves in other peoples’ shoes which, of course is what empathy is all about. While empathy can be a learned skill, GoGetters do it naturally. In addition to natural empathy, H-style people have natural flexibility. Also GoGetters are realistic opportunists again matching up with the list of Stamoulis.

To me the interesting characteristic identified by Stamoulis was the lack of caution. This means ideal CEOs have a low Doublechecker component. They see themselves as quick decision makers while others see them as impulsive. This can lead to disasters at the strategic decision making level (e.g. the GFC). It is important that CEOs have both an independent board to rein them in and a working partner (usually a CFO) who can also point out the risks in a decision.