Leadership qualities of CEO’s
connections with other successful CEOs hence gaining valuable insights on ethical leadership.
Mark Zuckerberg does not control everything; instead, he prefers to delegate. Some innovation on Facebook is implemented without his direct involvement like the translation application. Mark Zuckerberg knows when to offer guidance on blueprints and when to relinquish control. Consequently, interaction with users has partly resulted in the creation of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is also a decisive leader who is ready to take risks. He makes decisions that drive him and his team into creativity and innovativeness.
Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson is an American entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group. His leadership characteristic has steered the Virgin Group to success in the air transport sector in the United States (U.S). Sir Branson has several traits that make him an outstanding leader. These characteristics include the ability to delegate, decision making, excellent communication skills, and motivational approaches. Through delegation, Sir Richard Branson reduces his workload and provides opportunities to ambitious to grow in their careers. Delegation helps Sir Branson to give freedom and encourage employees to prosper. Delegation improves employees’ leadership skills by building their confidence and supporting the business. Effective CEOs give other employees a chance to flourish and feel appreciated. Successful leaders value other employees by providing opportunities to acquire new skills by performing new tasks.
The other characteristic exhibited by Sir Richard Branson is the ability to make decisions. Besides collaborating with other employees, successful leaders can make decisions that are firm and final. A good leader practices what he says and must be ready to soil his hands and be innovative to earn respect from other employees. As the CEO of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson offers decisive leadership to ensure that the right strategies implemented. Successful leaders such as Sir Richard Branson are always in the right frame of mind hence able to perform their best. Decision making involves putting aside setbacks and moving on after learning from the previous mistake by focusing on the next challenge.
The other characteristic of successful leaders like Sir Richard Branson is that they have communication skills. Successful leaders can communicate concisely and consistently manner to the message delivered. Good communicators are also good listeners which combine to give an individual the leadership skills required in today’s business world. A good leader is a good listener who must be ready to learn even from his juniors in an organization. Successful leaders like Sir Richard Branson also lead through motivation. By walking around and having a one-one conversation with other employees, good leaders inspire and motivate these employees. Being a successful leader, Sir Richard Branson walks around to know about other employees, which motivates them to work hard. Engaging with employees helps to create the perception that the CEO is part of the team and not the boss.
Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai is the current CEO of Google. The most outstanding leadership characteristic possessed by Sundar Pichai is that he an excellent communicator. Effective communication has enabled him to ensure that his teammates understand the company’s mission. Effective communication is a vital trait that every CEO must have in the current digital era. Being an effective leader helps to connect the CEOs with other employees and other stakeholders. A successful leader of Sundar Pichai’s caliber is good in decision making. Steering Google to prosperity, the CEO is a decisive decision-maker who also ready to take risks. He is a fearless leader who instills confidence in his team as it pursues success.
Qualities for successful CEOs
Decision making
Successful CEOs are decisive and make decisions earlier, quickly, and are convinced of the choices they make. The decision- making process among successful leaders is consistent, even in situations with insufficient information and in unknown circumstances (Botelho et al. 2017, p. 73). High performing CEOs are decisive and understand that it is better to make a wrong decision than not making any decision at all. Effective CEOs can move with speed in the decision making process. Additionally, successful CEOs can know when not to make a decision. They are ready to delay the process of decision making to allow for more critical information to surface on the consequences of making such a decision. However, after identifying a route, successful CEOs move with speed to make the decision. Backtracking by CEOs on decisions that they have made can cause loss of trust among employees.
Successful CEOs always endeavor to get backing from their employees and other partners. They focus on delivering business results by taking into consideration the inputs from stakeholders. According to Botelho et al. (2017, p. 7), successful CEOs achieve this by comprehending the needs and motivation of the stakeholders and then engage people to drive performance and by aligning them around the purpose of value creation. Successful CEOs engage stakeholders in every step of decision-making. By engaging stakeholders along with the plan and executing effective communication as well as influencing master plans, CEOs become successful. Additionally, successful CEOs make people, including different stakeholders, to understand their importance in the process.
A study by Picken (2017, p. 8) established that effective CEOs consider stakeholders’ input hence do not require to waste their energy trying to shield their teams from painful decisions. Successful CEOs get backing from their colleagues by making them feel confident about their success, even if it means making unpopular decisions. Successful CEOs are not afraid of conflicts as they pursue company objectives. Effective CEOs can handle divergent views and are willing to engage in disputes hence good conflict managers. As conflict managers, they give every party the chance to speak. They are good listeners and ask for inputs but do not make decisions driven by consensus.
Good communicators
Successful CEOs are communicators. Successful CEOs can effectively communicate with other employees and clients. The communication must be in both directions between the CEO and the management team and other employees. A successful CEO receives information from other employees and clients through communication. Effective communication by CEOs boosts employees’ morale and ensuring timely completion of tasks (Picken, 2017, p. 10). Successful CEOs can communicate what they require and from whom, when they require it and how tasks should be performed. Successful CEOs are consistent and transparent in the way they communicate. They expertly translate their perception of the potential of the business and challenges and expected outcomes in a language that is clear and easy to understand. Successful CEOs are highly devoted to what they do.
Delegation
Successful CEOs in today’s competitive business world must have the ability to delegate. To gain authority over other employees, CEOs must be credible, confident, and competent to build power that enhances the connection with other employees productively. Through delegation, employees feel trusted. Trust is essential in influencing and attaining shared objectives. Delegation helps in building confidence among the employees (Picken 2017, p. 13). As leaders, successful CEOs stick to what they say through their actions builds trust with the other staff. Successful CEOs can create partnerships with customers and other employees. Through delegation, CEOs develop loyalty from employees who feel appreciated and valued. This, in turn, reduces cases of employee attrition hence increased productivity and business growth. Delegation helps successful CEOs provide opportunities for employees and other managers to acquire new skills career growth. The CEOs have the authority to lead other people within the organization. Being the highest authority in an organization, CEOs must stay focused when delegating by adhering to a laid down plan with the end objective in mind.
Motivational approaches
Successful CEOs they can nurture the capabilities to motivate other team members with diverse skills. To succeed, leaders incorporate capabilities from other employees. Effective CEOs develop and direct teams towards achieving a shared objective by recognizing and leveraging on individual unique to achieve the results expected (Zhang t al, 2017, p.593). They motivate other employees to strive towards achieving the set goals. Successful leaders are genuine and enhance the success of partners. Being real builds trust and respect among people and promotes communication. Successful leaders provide other employees with the skills and training they require, which motivates them to succeed. Successful CEOs create and maintain relationships with employees and customers. Building strong relationships creates the right image for the CEO and the organization, which in turn increases customer loyalty.
Ability to bring change
Today, organizations are embracing change very rapidly. Consequently, there is a need for companies to be flexible and transformative. Successful CEOs are ready to embrace change and remain in line with the changing market demands to compete (Zhang ret al, 2017, p.601). To be a successful leader, one must be ready to strategically and tactfully sail to manage and ensure success. To achieve change, successful CEOs are transparent, identify disparities, and provide opportunities to fill up these gaps. Additionally, they can monitor progress and guide people to success while monitoring their results along the way. Successful CEOs initiate change and do not instill fear in others over the company’s direction. Instead, they give inspiration to other employees to account for their roles in the change process. Also, they focus their attention on the importance of change and celebrate their achievements. CEOs must embrace change management by opening communication channels between themselves and their employees. siThis enables every employee to participate in asking questions, discussing challenges, and celebrating achievements.
Strategic thinking
Having a strategy is a requirement for successful business leaders. Lack of strategy negatively impacts on companies’ capabilities to sustain competitiveness in a rapidly changing business environment. Successful CEOs are strategic and can delegate, communicate, and develop solutions for different challenges (Jamil, 2015, p.28). Successful leaders must create time for strategic thinking that enables them to manage the processes in an organization in a systematic manner.
Adaptability
Successful CEOs adapt quickly to a rapidly changing business environment. Effective CEOs are proactive and quickly adapt to new situations (Jamil, 2015, p.35). Adaptability is a crucial skill that every CEO must possess to be successful. By being adaptable, successful CEOs can deal with situations that are not in the operation manual. Adaptable CEOs devote much of their time thinking about the long-term goals of the company, which enables them to identify warning signs early in time. Also, effective CEOs seek information, and data from different sources enables them to sense change and make strategic moves to take advantage of the situation. Effective CEOs who are adaptable acknowledge the fact that several hurdles fare encountered when executing change and consider mistakes as opportunities to learn and develop.
Reliability in delivering
Successful CEOs are capable of producing results reliably. Reliable CEOs end up being successful in their careers. Reliability is a crucial attribute for successful CEOs. Honest CEOs are steady and predictable and exhibit high levels of consistency and commitment (Jamil, 2015, p.38). Effective CEOs can set expectations that are realistic in advance. Successful CEOs who are reliable have excellent skills in personal organization and planning. Their management styles entail holding meetings, having dashboards on deliverables, being accountable for sand monitoring performance, and taking quick corrective measures.
Conclusion
Today CEO’s pay is influenced by factors such as business rivalry between companies. Also, the net worth of companies influences CEOs pay. Besides possessing the necessary academic qualifications, leaders must have other skills that inspire people to follow them. Leaders must have the ability to inspire and motivate their followers. They have goals that are realistic and achievable with a specific time frame. Successful CEOs combine several characteristics that enable them to drive their companies to success. Most effective CEOs are quick decision-makers, good communicators, can delegate some of the responsibilities, and employ motivational approaches that enhance productivity.
Being decisive enables CEOs to make rapid strategic decisions that support organizational growth. Through delegation, effective CEOs provide other employees with the opportunity to learn new skills that enhance their career growth. Additionally, delegation boosts employees’ confidence hence increased productivity. Also, successful CEOs are excellent communicators and keen listeners. Finally, successful CEOs are adaptable, reliable, and strategic thinkers who provide leadership to organizations towards achieving the business objectives.
References
Botelho, E. L., Powell, K. R., Kincaid, S., & Wang, D. (2017). What sets successful CEOs apart. Harvard Business Review, 95(3), 70-77.
Callan, S. J., & Thomas, J. M. (2014). Relating CEO compensation to social performance and financial performance: Does the measure of compensation matter?. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 21(4), 202-227.
Fitzsimmons, T. W., & Callan, V. J. (2016). CEO selection: A capital perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(5), 765-787.
Jamil, M. Y. (2015). Islamic perspective of leadership: A role model for today’s CEOs. Journal of Islamic thought and civilization, 5(2), 24-45.
Nichols, A. L., & Cottrell, C. A. (2014). What do people desire in their leaders? The role of leadership level on trait desirability. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(4), 711-729.
Picken, J. C. (2017). From founder to CEO: An entrepreneur’s roadmap. Business Horizons, 60(1), 7-14.
www.amazon.com
www.facebook.com
www.google.com
www.virginggroup.com
Zhang, H., Ou, A. Y., Tsui, A. S., & Wang, H. (2017). CEO humility, narcissism, and firm innovation: A paradox perspective on CEO traits. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(5), 585-604.