The C-Suite Skills That Matter Most

More than ever, companies need leaders who are good with people.

by

and

PJ Neal

by

and

PJ Neal

From the Magazine (July–August 2022) · Long read

Chad Hagen

01

The C-Suite Skills That Matter Most

02

Is It Time to Consider Co-CEOs?

03

When Hiring CEOs, Focus on Character

04

As the World Shifts, So Should Leaders

Summary.

Landing a job as a CEO today is no longer all about industry expertise and financial savvy. What companies are really seeking are leaders with strong social skills. That’s what the authors discovered after analyzing nearly 5,000 job descriptions for C-suite roles. Their explanation for this trend? Business operations are becoming more complex and tech-centered; workforce diversity is growing; and firms face greater public scrutiny than ever before. Those conditions call for leaders who are adept communicators, relationship builders, and people-oriented problem solvers. To succeed in the future, the authors argue, companies will need to focus on those skills when they evaluate CEO candidates and develop in-house talent.

Idea in Brief

The Shift

It’s no longer safe to assume that leaders with traditional managerial pedigrees will succeed in the C-suite. An analysis of executive-search data shows that companies today are prioritizing social skills above technical know-how, expertise in financial stewardship, and other qualifications.

The Explanation

Large companies today have increasingly complex operations, heavier reliance on technology, more workforce diversity, and greater public accountability for their behavior. Leading under those circumstances requires superior listening and communication skills and an ability to relate well to multiple constituencies.

The Path Forward

To succeed in the years ahead, companies will have to figure out how to effectively evaluate the social skills of job candidates. They will also need to make such skills an integral part of their talent-management strategies.

For a long time, whenever companies wanted to hire a CEO or another key executive, they knew what to look for: somebody with technical expertise, superior administrative skills, and a track record of successfully managing financial resources. When courting outside candidates to fill those roles, they often favored executives from companies such as GE, IBM, and P&G and from professional-services giants such as McKinsey and Deloitte, which had a reputation for cultivating those skills in their managers.

A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Next In

Is It Time to Consider Co-CEOs?

The model is more viable than you might think.

Raffaella Sadun is the Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
Joseph Fuller is a professor of management practice and a faculty cochair of the Project on Managing the Future of Work at Harvard Business School. He also cochairs Harvard’s Project on Workforce, a collaboration among members of the faculty at the university’s schools of business, education, and government.
SH

Stephen Hansen is an associate professor of economics at Imperial College Business School.
PJ Neal is the global head of knowledge and operations for the Board & CEO Advisory Group at Russell Reynolds Associates.