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Executive Survey: What Makes A Great CEO?
Surprise, It's Not Ethics according to Survey Conducted by TheLadders.com <BackNEW YORK (May 16, 2005) - With a steady procession of American CEOs still beating a path to the courthouse, a reality check on what makes a strong corporate chief is in order. What personality traits separate the truly great CEOs from the headline-grabbing failures? According to a survey conducted by TheLadders.com, the world's leading $100,000+ jobs Web site, a solid majority of job seekers in the $100k+ market say "Leadership," above all else, is the defining characteristic of a great CEO.
When asked: What skills or personality traits are most important in a CEO, a 53% majority of executives in the $100k+ job market selected leadership. The second-highest-ranking trait was ethics, which claimed 19% of the vote. Strategy followed with 10%, and accountability followed that with 8%. Rounding out the bottom of the list were a surprising list of traits that are typically associated with strong on-the-job performance: management only claimed 5% of the vote; creativity only received 3%; and industry expertise accounted for just 2% of all responses (see chart at right). A total of 1,366 registered $100k+ executives responded to the survey, which was conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between April 20th, 2005 and May 6th, 2005, with a margin of error of +/- 2.7%.
In a separate survey of 911 executives, TheLadders.com sought further clarity on the topic of CEO performance, asking the question: What are the criteria on which your CEO's performance should be evaluated? Again, the notion of leadership reigned supreme, with 29% of the vote. Following closely behind was impact on shareholder value, which claimed 22% of all responses. Strategy for growth ranked third on the list, with 16%, followed by operational excellence with 11%. There was a two-way tie between creating an ethical work environment and creating a corporate culture; each logged 8% of the total vote. Ability to hit quarterly growth targets pulled up the rear with 6% (see chart at left). The margin of error for this survey was +/- 3.3%.
The value of being a strong leader isn't lost on lower-level executives. When asked in a separate survey of 922 executives: What are the most important criteria on which you are evaluated, leadership again took the lead spot with 39%. This was followed closely by a factor that's been a continual sore spot for modern-day executives; the ability to hit quarterly growth targets claimed 29% of the vote. The quaint virtue of hard work yielded a 13% response, followed by industry knowledge with 10% and creativity with 9% (see chart at right). The margin of error for this survey was +/- 3.3%.
"For executive-level job seekers, the ability to demonstrate a track record of strong leadership is what separates the superstars from the strategic role players," explained TheLadders.com President and CEO, Marc Cenedella. "Fiscal achievements and a history of sound judgment will serve you well in the job market, but the real stand-outs are those managers that can inspire their troops to follow them into battle."
Now reaching over 365,000 readers and featuring over 20,000 new $100k+ job listings each month, TheLadders.com is the largest online job search service catering exclusively to the $100k+ market. Marc Cenedella founded TheLadders.com in July 2003 after a tenure as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, at HotJobs.com, ultimately shepherding that company's sale to Yahoo, Inc. (NASD: YHOO) in 2002.
About TheLadders.comHeadquartered in New York, TheLadders.com, Inc. is a privately held company offering online job search services to recruiters and job seekers in the $100k+ employment market. Ex-HotJobs.com executive Marc Cenedella founded TheLadders.com in 2003 to address the unique job seeking and recruiting requirements in this market sector. Investors include leading venture capital firm Matrix Partners and prominent private investors such as Kevin Ryan, CEO, DoubleClick, Tom Matlack, Megunticook Management, and Robert Chefitz, NJTC Venture Fund.
In addition to its primary member-based site, the Company operates vertical job search Web sites for sales, marketing, finance, human resources, law, technology, and operations. All sites feature daily job updates as well as industry-specific weekly e-newsletters. For corporate and executive recruiters, TheLadders.com delivers the same highly personalized experience. TheLadders for Recruiters (www.recruitladder.com) enables them to easily post $100k+ job openings at no charge. The Company further differentiates itself from other online job boards that fall prey to fraudulent job postings by implementing human mediated search, ensuring all job postings are fully qualified before being published to members.
More information about TheLadders.com can be accessed at www.theladders.com.
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Media Contacts
Maria Schiller
TheLadders.com
646-453-1913
maria.schiller@theladders.com