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Executive transitions: What traits do you recruit for?

by Ajit Kambil
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    12 November 2014

    Executive transitions: What traits do you recruit for?

    13 November 2014
    • Ajit Kambil United States
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    Six fundamental leadership traits—curiosity, courage, perseverance, integrity, confidence, and empathy—might help you identify high-potential staff.

    Nearly all new C-level executives find that they will likely have to replace some people on their team and recruit new leaders. As you rebuild your team, what traits and qualities will you look for? What indicators might help you identify higher-potential staff and likely “A” players?

    Over 2008–2009, I had the privilege of interviewing a number of leading women CFOs on their journey to leadership (See The journey to CFO: Perspectives from women leaders). Across our interviews, these women identified key traits underlying their success as CFOs. By “trait,” I mean a natural or cultivated characteristic or propensity toward a specific form of behavior.

    THE ESSENTIAL TRAITS

    Building on our initial study and subsequent transition labs we identify six key leadership traits including: curiosity, courage, perseverance, integrity, confidence, and empathy. Some of these traits may be innate―some of our interviewees expressed the belief that they were born with a particular trait―while other traits were developed over time, forged in the crucibles of critical moments and relationships.

    1. Curiosity

    Curiosity is both the most surprising and most frequently mentioned trait we discovered across our interviews. Our interviewees’ desire to understand and learn new things helped them to build the diverse experiences that later gave them the foundation to be an accomplished leader. Yet, the importance of curiosity as a critical employee or manager is rarely studied in the management literature. Since our 2009 publication, a number of CFOs I have worked with have noted that curiosity is one of the most important qualities that they look for in recruiting talent. Whether innate or cultivated, curiosity is vital to motivating leaders to pursue experiences and learn lessons that build deeper insights and understanding in an ever-changing knowledge economy.

    2. Courage

    Courage is the willingness to face uncertainty and perhaps danger. In all of our interviews, interviewees identified critical moments in which they were called upon to be courageous and willingly move into unfamiliar ground in order to go forward. Often, courage is manifested in the willingness to take on new challenges that stretch the individual well beyond what he or she already knows how to do. Courage helped the leaders we interviewed master new skills and experiences critical to their advancement and their personal credibility.

    3. Perseverance

    Perseverance (the willingness to work through challenges without giving up) is another trait vital to individual success in both professional and personal contexts. Often, perseverance provides the drive to master a difficult subject or situation. Among our respondents, this willingness to persevere was sometimes learned in childhood. Others work at cultivating this trait, training with determination to excel in an area where they are not naturally gifted, such as a musical instrument or a sport, to achieve a high level of proficiency. Perseverance enabled these executives to undertake challenging and difficult assignments and advance in their chosen professions.

    4. Integrity

    All of our interviewees emphasized the importance of integrity. The trait of “ethically saying what you mean; and doing what you say” is highly desirable not only in a CFO but across the C-suite. Being able to marry the right intentions with right actions provides a foundation for trust within and across an organization. Getting things done with integrity also makes it easier for others to work for and with you.

    5. Confidence

    Confidence is another trait our interviewees highly valued. Confidence does not have to be innate; a calm and self-assured style can be cultivated through practice. Confidence that’s grounded in prior experience and confidence in engaging the unknown are particularly valuable. Leaders expressing confidence can assuage anxieties and make it easier for staff to follow direction.

    6. Empathy

    Empathy—the ability to understand and consider another’s point of view—is also highly valuable for leaders. Empathy can be valuable in testing your point of view against those of others and in avoiding blind spots in decision-making. Furthermore, it can help executives be more effective communicators to, and influencers of, their key stakeholders by driving understanding and helping to find points of convergence that meet each other’s needs.

    Other attributes of high-potential talent

    Many of the above traits align with other findings on the qualities of high-potential talent. Recently, for example, in “21st century talent spotting: Why potential now trumps brains, experience and competencies” (Harvard Business Review June 2014), Claudio Fernandez-Araoz notes five indicators of high potential:

    • The right kind of motivation—a commitment to fiercely pursue unselfish goals (additive to the trait of integrity above)
    • Curiosity—a penchant for seeking out new experiences and an openness to learning and change (same as our prior study)
    • Insight—ability to gather and make sense of information that suggests new possibilities
    • Engagement—a knack for persuasively using emotion, logic, and communication (similar to empathy for communications)
    • Determination—a wherewithal to pursue difficult goals and overcome challenges (similar to perseverance)

    Traditionally, the most used gauges of the above traits are analysis of personal and work histories, reference checks, and interviews. But one other method—observation of the trait—can also be feasibly employed in the recruiting process. For example, an executive  walks potential recruits through a manufacturing plant in order to discover what the candidate observes about the plant and what questions they ask about the operations.

    The takeaway: When you take on a new executive role, it is very likely you will have to recruit some new members to your team. Recruiting and onboarding of new talent to your team is likely to create significant demands on your time, and success is not always guaranteed. Beyond gauging proficiency in their functional specialization, recruiting to the above traits may help to improve the odds and return on recruiting—helping to identify high-potential, future leaders who are adaptive to changing organizational contexts and needs.

    Credits

    Written by: Ajit Kambil

    Topics in this article

    Executive Transitions , Leadership , Talent

    Deloitte Consulting

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    Ajit Kambil

    Ajit Kambil

    Global CFO Program Research Director

    Ajit is the Global Research director of Deloitte LLP's CFO Program. He oversees the diverse research initiatives of the program in areas such as leadership, capital markets and risk and created CFO Insights, a biweekly publication serving more than thirty five thousand subscribers. Ajit also developed Deloitte’s Executive Transition Lab which helps CxOs make an efficient and effective transition into their new role. Prior to his role in the CFO Program, Ajit was the global director of Deloitte Research. He is widely published in leading business and technology journals on varied topics. An eCommerce pioneer and expert on market design, his book Making Markets: How to Profit from Online Auctions and Exchanges was published by Harvard Business School Press.

    • akambil@deloitte.com
    • +1 212 492 4286

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