Tomorrow’s CEO is likely to have international experience and an operational background, and will have risen through the ranks of the company for a number of years.
That’s according to a recent study by US marketing solutions company, The Week, and Beresford Research, which found that CEOs today are significantly more likely than they were in 2000 to have international work experience (60% versus 27%). In addition, the report says, finance and operations will account for the majority of functional backgrounds of new CEOs, followed by sales/marketing and engineering.
Staying power and education
As far as career paths are concerned, most CEOs are still coming from the traditional ranks, with the most common prior job titles held being CEO of another division, subsidiary, or company, chief operating officer, or chief financial officer.
Other recent studies have also found that in a knowledge economy, people with a university education will earn significantly higher. Employment opportunities for employees with masters and professional degrees are expected to grow by up to 20% by the end of this decade.
Personality
The intangible qualities critical for future CEOs include self discipline and the ability to restrain yourself so you can hear the ideas of others and pay attention to micro shifts.
Judgement also rates highly. Listening is important, but so is being able to filter out what doesn’t matter.
CEOs will also face new demands when it comes to their public persona, as every one of them will be in the communications business. And they will need to know how to deal with the immediacy of today’s hyper-connected environment in which everything happens in real-time.
One other talent that is set to benefit future CEOs in a globalised economy is fluency in at least two languages. Time to sign up for those French lessons?
