09 Feb 2016 What 114 Fortune 500 CEOs Told Me About Leadership
It was 1999 when one evening Douglas Barry, then 12, asked his father ”Dad, what would it take for me to become a Fortune 500 CEO?” “I don’t know son.” said dad. “Why don’t we go to the library on Saturday and get some books on leadership.” They continued to eat quietly for a few moments when Barry junior said: “Dad, do you think that if I write to the F500 CEOs they will reply to me?” “There is only one way to find out,” said Barry senior.
It was 1999 when one evening Douglas Barry, then 12, asked his father ”Dad, what would it take for me to become a Fortune 500 CEO?” “I don’t know son.” said dad. “Why don’t we go to the library on Saturday and get some books on leadership.” They continued to eat quietly for a few moments when Barry junior said: “Dad, do you think that if I write to the F500 CEOs they will reply to me?” “There is only one way to find out,” said Barry senior.
Four years later Douglas Barry published his book Wisdom For A Young CEO, in which he quotes 114 letters the CEOs who wrote back to him.
In this post, I want to share with you the top 10 leadership qualities the 114 CEOs recommended that young Douglas should cultivate, so he can become the CEO he aspired to be.
To “cross-validate” the advice of the 114 CEOs, I turned to Leadership Guru, Warren Bennis, who summarized it all in his book On Becoming A Leader.
1. Integrity and Honesty. The top quality voted by the majority of the CEOs was integrity and honesty. This was also one of the top qualities advocated by Warren Bennis. Being a keen observer of business and leadership, I have often wondered about the challenge of demonstrating integrity at the highest levels of leadership. Although it may be a natural quality of many of us, professionals and mid-level leaders, the demands on the integrity and honesty of senior leaders may not be as easy to satisfy. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this question.
2. Hiring, Developing, and Motivating Highly Talented Employees. Bill Gates once said that without the talent and commitment of his top 20 engineers and managers, Microsoft would not have become the successful company that it did. While Warren Bennis does not mention this one among his top qualities, I believe that without it leaders cannot expect to be successful.
3. Passion. Many of the CEOs argued that in order to be an effective leader, you have to be passionate about the cause you are leading. Warren Bennis has it as number two on his list. Without that passion, CEOs may not have the conviction and energy to lead their organization to success.
4. Education and Learning. Warren Bennis said that leaders have to be life-long learners. Not just through formal education, but through learning from all our experiences in life, especially from our failures. But learning in itself is not enough. If the lessons learned are not implemented, the value of learning will be much diminished.
5. Respect For The Individual. Cultivating this quality is not at all trivial. In his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There Marshall Goldsmith recounts many highly talented top leaders who struggled with this quality. It requires a lot of conscious awareness of your interactions with people at all levels: employees, customers, vendors, competitors, and everyone else. The earlier in your career you start cultivating this quality, the better.
6. Communication. Clearly much of what we do as leaders are to communicate. Communicating authentically and persuasively is a skills-set that requires a lot of conscious practice. Seeking a mentor to help us become masterful communicators may prove of great value. He or she will help us hear what we may be “deft” to, and course-correct our message and delivery.
7. Vision. Warren Bennis puts “A Guiding Vision” at the top of his list of “must-have” leadership qualities. Although it came in only at number seven on the CEOs list, I believe that without a clear and compelling vision, which the CEO must “sell” to all his/her stakeholders, he or she will not be successful.
8. Hard Work. Why did the CEOs include “Hard Work” as a critical quality required to become a successful leader? Is this not a trivial requirement? Can any leader hope to be successful without hard work? It may be that they wanted to dispel any illusions in young Douglas Barry’s mind that it is glorious and easy at the top?
9. Listening. This quality implies a certain level of humility. A mindset that says: “I can never know it all. I must always listen and learn. Even from people who have not achieved as much as I have.” Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford University calls it a Growth Mindset – The New Psychology Of Success.
10. Taking Risks. By definition, achieving great visions entails pushing the boundaries of our comfort zone and taking prudent risks. By staying within our comfort zone we invite competitors to race past us, and bring new value to a world that is hungry for exciting innovative products and services. Take for example IBM, which in the late 80s still clung to its mainframe as the only product worthy of its customers’ consideration. A fixed mindset that almost brought upon the demise of Big Blue.
The core lesson to be learned from both the 114 CEOs and Warren Bennis, is that as professionals and aspiring leaders, we should be consciously aware of the qualities we have to perfect. We should always self-assess, invite feedback, and strive to achieve the highest level of mastery.
Learn More:
Please email me at Uri@thewilltochange.com or visit our website at https://www.thewilltochange.com
