f you’re looking for the best qualities of a CEO, what would be the ideal qualities you would pick to include? Most choose communication and leadership, though these are essential CEO qualifications, but what makes a successful CEO?
A good CEO is a person who can juggle several critical responsibilities and stay reliable, trustworthy and abled decision-maker. To understand this better, here are some significant traits that a good CEO should possess:
Foresight
Foresight includes critical thinking, especially when you consider future planning and possibilities. It is a trait that’s essential to everyone in their professional and personal life. But, it holds twice as much importance for CEOs as they are dealing with business, money and investors and steering the company in the desired direction toward success. Having the capability to predict what can happen in the next month or coming year and prepare accordingly is one of the most precious traits of a CEO.
And most of the time, it is about making the right decision and deciding to work on it for the company’s growth.
Adaptability
Consider the case of Blockbuster, a rapidly growing, global company worth billions that filed for bankruptcy in the year 2010. Regardless of the efforts made by its CEO, John Antioco, to amend its business model and compete with competitors like Netflix, the company was slow to adapt to the change and never adjusted its set methods of doing business.
It is a lesson for all CEOs who are unable to adapt to changing markets. It is a matter of adapting to the changing situations around you to manage your declining revenues, conflicts among board members, etc.
Reliability
Any company worker, regardless of rank, should be reliable. But, as humans, we often promise things that we fail to deliver. Sometimes, CEOs also showcase such behaviour, and they lose the trust of their staff or board members. This is a significant reason why a CEO should be reliable every time. It is an essential trait of a successful CEO.
Teamwork
Autonomy is commonly attributed to individuals in positions of power who make decisions in isolation while overlooking others. However, in reality, smart CEOs understand the significance of seeking input from various stakeholders to make informed strategic and personnel decisions. They recognize the importance of consulting with their C-suite team and engaging with employees at lower hierarchical levels.
This quality of a CEO involves actively listening to others, posing pertinent questions, seeking feedback, and effectively delegating tasks to colleagues. By embracing this approach, CEOs foster a collaborative environment that encourages sharing diverse perspectives and expertise. They understand that collective wisdom and inclusive decision-making lead to more well-rounded and effective outcomes.
Conclusion
In the end, these CEO qualities are not exhaustive in any way. Leading a company is challenging and demands all types of skills and qualities. What’s essential is to seek advice and feedback to develop such traits and be successful.
So, whether you want to be Elon Musk or Bill Gates, it is essential to learn from the examples of successful CEOs and follow their path.