Most successful CEOs are INTROVERTS
While you might picture most CEOs as charismatic and extroverted, a new study suggests that this may not be the case.
Researchers looked at the personalities of 2,000 executives and found that the majority of successful CEOs were introverts.
Despite these findings, boards continue to hire extroverted people as CEOs, because they are more confident in interviews.
The researchers have also created a test to let you see if you have what it takes to become a successful CEO.
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KEY FINDINGS The findings showed that over half of the CEOs who performed the best were introverts. But candidates who displayed a lot of confidence had more than twice the chance of being hired as a CEO – despite being no more likely to show better performance once they got the job. And while you might expect the best-performing CEOs to come from the top universities, this was not the case. Only seven per cent of the top CEOs had an Ivy League degree. The researchers also found that boards tend to pick CEOs with a CV full of successful achievements. But nearly all the executives in their sample had some kind of major mistake on their CV, such as making a wrong hire, in their assessment. And nearly half of them had a 'career blowup' that cost the business a large amount of money – but 75 per cent of that group still went on to be a CEO.
Researchers from ghSmart, a Chicago-based consultancy firm, spent 10 years creating a database, called the CEO Genome Project.
The database is made up of assessments of 17,000 executives, including 2,000 CEOs.
An analysis of the database allowed the researchers to pinpoint the traits and patterns that most predicted which people became a CEO.
They also gathered information on the performance of 212 of them to compare how top-performers' behaviours lined up with the traits that tend to get CEOs hired.
The findings showed that over half of the CEOs who performed the best were introverts.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Elenea Lytkina Botelho, who led the study, said: 'The biggest aha, overall, is that some of the things that make CEOs attractive to the board have no bearing on their performance.
'Like most human beings, they get seduced by charismatic, polished presenters. They simply do better in interviews.'
The findings showed that over half of the CEOs who performed the best were introverts. Pictured is Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, is known to be an introvert, but an excellent leader
Candidates who displayed a lot of confidence had more than twice the chance of being hired as a CEO – despite being no more likely to show better performance once they got the job.
Ms Botelho said: 'I've been in the room and had directors express the concern – "this person is such a strong introvert, how will they really lead?"'
While you might expect the best-performing CEOs to come from the top universities, this was not the case.
While you might picture most CEOs as charismatic and extroverted, many of the top CEOs, including Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, are known to be introverts
Extroverted candidates who displayed a lot of confidence had more than twice the chance of being hired as a CEO. Pictured is Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin, who is known to be extroverted
TRAITS OF A SUCCESSFUL CEO Overall, the results showed that the most successful CEOs had four key traits: 1) Reaching out to stakeholders 2) Being highly adaptable to change 3) Being reliable and predictable 4) Making fast decisions with conviction
Only seven per cent of the top CEOs had an Ivy League degree.
Ms Botelho said: 'There was zero correlation between pedigree and ultimate performance.'
The researchers also found that boards tend to pick CEOs with a CV full of successful achievements.
But nearly all the executives in their sample had some kind of major mistake on their CV, such as making a wrong hire, in their assessment.
And nearly half of them had a 'career blowup' that cost the business a large amount of money – but 75 per cent of that group still went on to be a CEO.
Oprah Winfrey, founder and CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), is known to be confident and extroverted
Overall, the results showed that the most successful CEOs had four key traits – reaching out to stakeholders, being highly adaptable to change, being reliable and predictable, and making fast decisions with conviction.
Ms Botelho added: 'We frankly expected to find that strong CEOs stood out for the quality of their decisions - that they turn out to be right more frequently.
'But what very clearly stood out was the speed. Quality was likely something they developed earlier, but then they're willing to step up and make the decision faster, even with more uncertainty.'