Staying On Top

HOW INDIA'S BEST CEOS ARE STEERING THEIR COMPANIES THROUGH CRISIS AND CHAOS

- RAJEEV DUBEY

Most young executives dream of making it to the corner room one day. A vast majority never gets to the top job of a CEO. But for those that do, life could be lonely at the top, even frustrating and disappointing at times while searching for the right advice or advisors. Especially dealing with multiple stakeholder expectations and scrutiny ranging from the company’s board to shareholders, suppliers, employees and customers. Coping with the role is not easy. A PwC study of 2,500 companies over the years shows that at least onefourth of CEO departures in Fortune 500 companies were forced.

So, how do the most successful CEOs manage their companies? Harvard Business Review’s CEO Genome Project spread over 10 years set out to pinpoint the specific attributes that define high-performance CEOs. It broke many stereotypes. For instance, while company boards often preferred charismatic extroverts, it was the introverts who were more successful at delivering on expectations of shareholders and boards. It found that educational background was no guarantee of success of the CEO when put through the pressure-cooker role; that most successful CEOs had committed at least one significant blunder in their previous assignments.

But, most importantly, it found that successful CEOs displayed four key characteristics: They moved with speed and conviction; they took others along and communicated their vision effectively; they adjusted rapidly to the changing environment; and, foremost, they delivered reliably — rather their performance excellence was almost mundane.