Which Professions Provide the Best CEOs

There has been raging debate on\nwhich professions provide the best CEOs. I think to some extent this argument\nis based on a misunderstanding of what the role of the CEO should be.  The CEO as the head of the organisation is a\nleader who must drive the organisation towards its vision and mission.\nTherefore as executives move to the top of the organisation, their technical expertise\nbecomes less and less a factor in determining success. However, what is\nrequired is for the person going to a CEO role to have the ability to\nunderstand the industry quickly even if they are coming from a completely\ndifferent industry.

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Historically people from the\nfinance background have been elevated to the CEO role. The reason for this trend\nin my view is not necessarily competency in all cases. If you look at it the\nfinance role is the only role, according to most corporate governance statutes\nthat must be in the board as a board member beside that of a CEO. Naturally,\nthis has given finance people a head start in terms of understanding the\nbusiness and leading the organisation. They have an opportunity to learn from\nthe board members as they create strategies for the business. All the other\nroles attend Board meetings by invitation. \n

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Slowly we are seeing a change in\ntrend, as more and more non-finance people are being appointed to CEO. With\ntime as more data is gathered on the performance of non-finance CEOs,\ncomparisons can be objectively be made and inform policy direction going forward.

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While my view above is, yet to be tested extensively there is already evidence on what works when it comes to\nselecting CEOs.  In an article in the\nHarvard Business Review by Art Markman{ Can You Be a Great Leader Without\nTechnical Expertise?} he pointed out\nthat new evidence shows that great leaders have technical domain knowledge for\nthe sectors they are leading.  He argues\nthat “For\nexample, hospitals managed by doctors perform better than those managed by people with\nother backgrounds. And there are many examples of people who ran one company\neffectively and had trouble transferring their skills to the new organization.”

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While\nhe  says technical sector-specific\ncompetencies are key, he also acknowledges \nthere are other board competencies required for a person to succeed at\nthat level. According to him “ These\nfactors include: The ability to motivate self and others, effective oral and\nwritten communication, critical thinking skills, problem solving ability, and\nskills at working with teams and delegating tasks.”

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For company Boards, I would say look at trends and do not\nover-rely on people who have a finance background and leaving out other\ntalented individuals. Look across all professions and hire the CEO on the basis\nthat they have leadership capability and not necessarily technical domain\nknowledge. Industry-specific knowledge can be easily acquired if you hire the\nperson with the right leadership qualities. You want to hire CEOs who will\nprioritise culture and performance. CEOs who know that sustainable business\nperformance is only possible if the culture is aligned with the vision and\nmission of the organisation. Many CEOs have failed because they have failed to\ngrasp the important role culture plays in the success of  the organisation. Look the most successful\norganisations and  you will notice that,\nthey have their organisational culture as the anchor point.

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The most successful CEOs in my view are likely to be those\nwho have the capacity to open outside doors for the business. Their role is to\ncreate opportunities for the business by engaging key external stakeholders.\nThese opportunities from outside are handed level 2 executives to exploit. It\nis very likely that CEOs who have an internal focus may end up failing. The\nreason for the failure is that they are likely to miss important opportunities\noutside of the organisation. There is also a high likelihood that internally\nfocused CEOs end up creating tension within the team, as they compete for\ninternal attention with their subordinates.  They end up doubling in politics within the\norganisation.

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The board must be able to assist the CEO to refocus. This is\neasy if the board is not too operational. Unfortunately, in situations where\nthe Board is also too operational and internally focused, there is likely to be\ntension between the CEO and the Board. These are issues that can be resolved\neasily if both the CEO and the Board were appointed on merit.

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 Memory Nguwi is an Occupational\nPsychologist, Data Scientist, Speaker, & Managing Consultant- Industrial\nPsychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting\nfirm. https://www.linkedin.com/in/memorynguwi/ Phone +263 4\n481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or cell number +263 77 2356 361 or email: mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com  or visit\nour website at www.ipcconsultants.com