Qualities required to become a CEO

)???Managing uncertainty in business & adapting change: The most challenging aspect of business nowadays is managing uncertainty. The Key job of CEO is to turn the relentless unending uncertainty the organization will face into opportunity and growth.?To manage uncertainty effectively the CEO needs to develop the ability to adapt. CEO who adapts boldly are roughly seven times more likely to be successful than those who wait for change to confront them. Adaptability is developed when one breaks the comfort zone. ?Adaptable leaders work to acquire skills they don’t have. Adaptability means letting go what has made them successful in the past. CEO is expected to take initiative to bring change in the organization. However, change is not an event but an ongoing process. By understanding the stages of change and the pitfalls unique to each state CEO increases the chances of a successful transformation.

?2)???Innovation: Global competition, uncertainty in business, rapid changes in technology affecting business and pressure to achieve targets makes it very important the company adapts innovation to come out with newer ideas which helps to achieve targets Inspite of above-mentioned constraints. Hence it is very important for CEO and his team to be innovative. ?

?3)???Selecting the right Strategic Style: Companies that correctly match their strategy-making processes to their competitive circumstances perform better than those that do not. There are basically four strategic styles, CEO needs to adapt one of it to set the strategy right. Selection of Style depends upon two factors; First is predictability- how far the future is predictable in terms of demand and market expectations and secondly extent to which competitor can influence those factors. Following are the four Strategic styles:

?a)???Normal: This style is suitable when the demand forecast is predictable.

b)???Flexible: Global competition, updates in technology, economic uncertainty and changing consumer taste makes demand forecasting unpredictable in many industries. In such scenario this style is better as it in-builds flexibility to change in case of unforeseen development.

c)????Evolving: is like flexible style but it focuses beyond the boundaries of their own company often rallying on ecosystem of suppliers, customers, and complementors to their cause by defining attractive new markets, standards, technology platforms, etc. In this style it is assumed that company has power to shape the future.

d)???Blended approach: This style believes that company has power to shape the future but it’s possible to know that future and to predict the path to realizing it. Hence this style is mixture of normal and flexible style. This style like evolving considers that the current situation can be molded to advantage. ?

?4)???Business Acumen: A CEO is the leader of his business unit or Group and hence needs to know his business at best then any other stakeholder in the company. Hence it is very important that Professional who aspires to become a CEO develops the quality of business acumen.

?5)???Industry Expertise: It is very important for CEO to not only have a good business sense but also develop expertise on the nature of business of the company and its relevant industry.?Nature of business of each industry is different and hence having an in-depth understanding of that industry is very important to become a CEO.

?6)???Leadership Skills: A CEO leads the company, hence professional who inspires to become CEO must develop leadership skills.?Leadership is all about having in-depth clarity about the vision and Mission of the company, its moral values, Communicate effectively to give the same clarity to the team about the vision of the company, guide the team members whenever lack direction to ensure that they focus on the achievement of the goals of the company, ability to motivate the team, monitor their work and involved the team while making critical decisions so that implementation of these decisions becomes easy.

?7)???Dependency on Junior team: A CEO of the company has the responsibility to execute multiple tasks and hence he or she needs assistance of junior team to complete these tasks. Hence dependency on junior team is there to complete the tasks. Hence it is important to develop the skills of getting the work done from the team and at the same time motivate them. CEO must proactively take steps so that employees feel comfortable opening and sharing critical information whether it be early warning indicators, opportunities to improve, or even great wins. Surrender yourselves with people whose experience complement each other.

?8)???Understanding the interest of multiple Stakeholders: A CEO of the company is the face of the company and hence is answerable to multiple stakeholders such as Customers, vendors, Board, Shareholders, HODs of multiple departments, other junior Employees, etc. Hence it is very important that CEO has fair understanding on the different functions and ensure that interest of all stakeholders is fulfilled. CEO must have experience of general management before stepping into this role

?9) Decision-making Skills: It is very important that CEO makes SMART decisions. It means decisions are made specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Decisions should be made based on information but gut feeling also plays an important role in making decisions in times of uncertainty. ?Culture of the company plays a very important role in the process of decision making. If the top management is indecisive in nature or it does not care to take suggestions of junior team then there are high chances that the decisions taken may prove to be wrong or are not implemented properly. Hence involvement of junior team in decisions taken is very important. A CEO needs to take into consideration interest of multiple stakeholders while taking any decision. Hence balancing interest of multiple stakeholders is required while taking decisions. ?Learning from past mistakes made based on wrong decisions made should be part of decision-making process. The more mistakes are shared, the faster conditions improve. CEO should make decisions which has impact on the business of the company rather than on his or her individual authority.

?10) Thinking long term in building future of organization: Most employees spend most of their time focusing on near-term delivery and do just fine. However, a CEO needs to orient focus on to the future. They need to think long term while analyzing the impact of decisions to be taken. CEO need to divide their time between short term and long-term perspectives.

?11) Benchmarking with best practices and staying updated: A CEO of the company needs to keep track of what its competitors are doing, what are the best practices followed by other companies within industry or in general and what is the latest update or development in its business or in general on management front to stay competitive in the market. This information helps to then getting this adapted in the company to the extent possible. Culture of the company plays a very important role when any such change gets implemented. CEO needs to judge as to what extent these updates and best practices needs to be adapted by the company.

?12) Build diverse information networks: To identify opportunities and threat CEO need to go beyond the market data of industry or beyond market boundaries. They need to top into broader networks and information sources and as a result can sense changes earlier and make strategic moves to take advantage of the changes. Asking right questions leads to discovery of right information which is critical for business.

?13) Spending time with customer: Successful CEOs spend 20% of their time with customers to understand them in better manner.

?14) Leading with intent: It is important to craft strategy, but it is equally important to execute that strategy. The challenge is getting the strategy executed day in and day out in different ways and for different audiences. For this purpose, it is very important that CEO makes the team understand what their role is and what they need to achieve which will lead to achievement of overall vision of the company. Hence CEO must lead in every interaction with intent. Leading with lead means CEO must clearly articulate the intent to themselves, consistently align their daily actions with their intent and act on their intent in each interaction based on deep understanding of their audience and context. People want to know where you are taking them and why particularly if you are asking them to do something difficult or different from what they are used to doing. Hence giving them that understanding as to how this will lead to achievement of overall vision of the company is very critical step which needs to be performed by CEO.

?15) Reliability: Earning the trust of multiple stakeholders is an important aspect of the role of CEO. Pillar of reliability are personal consistency, setting realistic expectations, practicing radical personal accountability, and embedding consistency into the organization.

?16) Spending time on Floor to understanding ground reality: CEO of the company needs to spend half of his time on Floor with employees at ground level to understand the ground realities of the company. It is a good opportunity to know whether the Strategies, Policies, Processes crafted at senior level are being implemented at ground level or not.

?17) Result oriented: CEO of the company is responsible to deliver results to the board and Shareholders. Hence it very important that personality of CEO is result-oriented and who ensures that constant follow-up is done with team members to whom responsibilities are given to execute tasks so that desire results are achieved. To do list plays an important role in this regard. Consistency in achievement of results is equally important.

?18) Creating Specific Vocabulary: CEO must create a precise and specific vocabulary to speed up alignment and reduce the risk of mistakes. For example, developing common language so that everyone understood what it meant to be accountable.

?19) Adequate resources are required: CEO needs to assess and secured the budget and talent required to deliver and ensure that they have authority to make necessary decisions to drive results. ?

?20) Listening well: CEO should know when to stop talking and start listening. True attentiveness signals respect for people of all ranks and roles, a sense of curiosity and even a degree of humility.

?

?