What characteristics do you value most in a business executive? Determination? Vision? Collaboration? Persistence? Unlike the hard-fisted, autocratic tycoons who defined corporate America during the first part of the 20th Century, today’s executives need to be cut from a different cloth. People want executives who are receptive to new ideas, who embrace technology and who adapt to rapid changes in the business world. As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, many executive suites now have open-door policies. And CEOs will often spend time in the company lunchroom, building relationships with workers among the various ranks. So what qualities do employees value most? The answer to that question will help you build a strong, vibrant company. Here are five characteristics of successful business leaders:
- Empathy. Although executives have to make tough decisions, they are also expected to build congenial relationships with employees, stakeholders and community leaders. The days of a tough, take-no-prisoners approach simply won’t fly with the Millennial Generation, whose cohorts are already moving up the career ladder and assuming mid-level management positions.
- Openmindedness. An open-minded management approach goes one step further beyond empathy. It encourages input from employees and lower-level managers.
- Decisiveness. Some CEOs delay a worrisome decision for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is a fear of a drop in revenues or stock prices. Yet today, many executives are thinking about all those leaders who garnered ill fame, not for their missteps, but because of their delays in responding to a crisis. The ostrich act won’t instill confidence in your subordinates. They want to follow a trustworthy leader in a crisis, not one hiding in his head in the sand.
- Ethics. The concept of “ethical goodness” is now embraced by the Ivey Business Journal, which is dedicated to improving the practice of business management. In the early 2010s, Occupy Wall Street may have appeared to business executives at first as little more than a youthful response to economic woes. However, as time has passed and the dust has settled, it’s now clear that approaches that do not include an ethical management policy will meet with growing hostility from an increasingly engaged consumer base.
- Adaptability. Stodgy is out. Nimble is in. The pace of change is driven by technological innovations, and they don’t appear to be slowing down one whit. Some personalities love change, while others detest it. You’ll need to manage both types, while also coping with changes occurring within your own personal operating arena.
While leadership philosophies come and go like hemlines, these five qualities will prove enduring in the increasingly nimble business environment of today.
– Alesia Visconti, CFC