CEO Skills Inventory
Often, when discussing companies, the question is raised, “what does it take to be a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in a high tech company?” Clearly there is no single or simple answer but after interviewing CEOs, venture capitalists, and through personal observation, two broad categories of skills emerge. First is a set of characteristics describing the individual. Second is a list of skills these people employ to get results. These are of course combined in different amounts in different people. Lastly, companies face different challenges at different points in time. Different leadership skills are required for different challenges. This list is not exhaustive but hopefully proves illustrative.
INDIVIDUAL
- Integrity/ethics
- Analytic intelligence
- Sense of urgency
- Willingness to ask for help
- Decision making
- Ability to simplify
- Creative Questioning approach
- Leadership
- Openness
- Communications skills
- People empathy
- Potential problem identification
- Ego drives
- Non-political
- Endurance
- Willingness to take unqualified responsibility
- Willingness to take the lead
- Integrity/ethics
RESULTS ORIENTATION
- Market and customer knowledge
- Some familiarity with technology
- Articulates and champions a vision
- Identifies, grows, and deploys core competencies
- Establishes strategy
- Focuses on profitability
- Builds a team
- Defines clear cut objectives
- Delivers objectives
- Removes obstacles for the team
- Establishes and enforces a culture
- Asks the right questions
- Focuses on both short and long term
- Early problem identification
- Ability to solve a problem
- Encourages continuous learning at all levels
- Reinforces mobility of the team and its core competencies
FMG (2010)