What should organizations do to face this challenge? A critical first step is to develop greater clarity about what it now takes for C-suite executives to succeed. Simply put, it’s getting harder and less prudent to rely on traditional indicators of managerial potential. These changes present a phenomenal challenge for executive recruitment, because the capabilities required of top leaders include new and often “softer” skills that are rarely explicitly recognized or fostered in the corporate world. Today firms need to hire executives who are able to motivate diverse, technologically savvy, and global workforces who can play the role of corporate statesperson, dealing effectively with constituents ranging from sovereign governments to influential NGOs and who can rapidly and effectively apply their skills in a new company, in what may be an unfamiliar industry, and often with colleagues in the C-suite whom they didn’t previously know. So much has changed during the past two decades that companies can no longer assume that leaders with traditional managerial pedigrees will succeed in the C-suite. That practice now feels like ancient history. When courting outside candidates to fill those roles, they often favored executives from companies such as GE, IBM, and P&G and from professional-services giants such as McKinsey and Deloitte, which had a reputation for cultivating those skills in their managers. They will also need to make such skills an integral part of their talent-management strategies.įor a long time, whenever companies wanted to hire a CEO or another key executive, they knew what to look for: somebody with technical expertise, superior administrative skills, and a track record of successfully managing financial resources. To succeed in the years ahead, companies will have to figure out how to effectively evaluate the social skills of job candidates. Leading under those circumstances requires superior listening and communication skills and an ability to relate well to multiple constituencies. Large companies today have increasingly complex operations, heavier reliance on technology, more workforce diversity, and greater public accountability for their behavior. An analysis of executive-search data shows that companies today are prioritizing social skills above technical know-how, expertise in financial stewardship, and other qualifications. It’s no longer safe to assume that leaders with traditional managerial pedigrees will succeed in the C-suite.
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