The ability to motivate and lead others is the number one skill that companies and boards of directors seek in senior executives. This trait was considered more important than consistently high performance by 68% of top leaders surveyed from around the world by executive search firm IIC Partners.
Paul Dinte, chairman, IIC Partners commented, “The price of entry to the corner office remains competency. But once there, a leader’s success is more about inspiring and motivating others to perform, rather than what he or she does individually. The emerging snapshot of today’s most valued senior executive is not just that of a talented practitioner. Rather, this sought-after executive is very ‘other-directed’ and excels at harnessing the power of others through leadership and inspiration.”
After motivational ability, the senior executive traits most valued by organisations were: strong ability to manage change (51%); ability to identify and develop talent (46%); innovative thinking (30%); and consistently high performance (26%).
The survey, which collated the views of 1,270 business leaders from 18 different industries, also uncovered additional characteristics of senior executive teams. Companies are increasingly seeking to build teams that include external candidates rather than only internally-groomed talent. The average team is made up of only 45% internal candidates, with 38% being sourced externally and 17% from another division within the same parent company.
Organisations that were more likely to rely heavily on internal, rather than external, talent were those with fewer than 500 employees, energy and utility companies and financial services firms. Dinte concluded, “The trend of hiring from the outside has been going on for a while. Global trends in talent management indicate that companies are investing more in grooming internal leaders, and they are doing a better job of onboarding the executives they hire from the outside.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
