Leaders are required to possess a pocketful of skills and knowledge. C-suite authority requires a substantively distinctive mindset. Executive leadership is about mobilising the resources to devise the future. CXO's are the individuals hired by an organisation to navigate the turbulent business environment.
Becoming a Chief Officer of any business is the most significant leap that an executive can take in their career. Any person who has ascended to the C-suite ought to maintain a wide range of professional skills, personal integrity and ethics, and corporate know-how.
A successful CXO should be proficient at the many competencies that all good leaders have, but he or she must have specific attributes that distinguishes them from others.
Three most essential skills to be a successful CXO are:
Functional Competence in at least one area
Communication skills and
Team and relationship building
Functional Competence
Establishing one?s capabilities in a specific functional or business area during the early stages of the career can be a crucial stepping-stone to executive levels of corporate hierarchy. Mastering in one or more areas provides credibility on many fronts ? ability to quickly solve urgent problems, achieving quick wins, creating value in specific topics, and developing industry presence and networks. It establishes a great reputation and helps grow in one?s career.
"One of the most relevant attributes of a good leader is the ability to recognise valuable skills and positive qualities in others and manage them compassionately"
One of the most inspiring personalities of current generation N. Chandrasekharan, Chairman of Tata Sons, built his reputation initially as a software programmer, and then on building customer relationship. This catapulted him to larger roles, finally to reach the top.
Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, started in the automobile industry in the engineering division, establishing credibility, that helped her take on higher responsibilities in the product development, and global supply chain.
Expertise can also be a set of concepts and methods. For example, Charlotte Beers, CEO of the global advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather focuses on the idea of the brand-consumer relationship.
Communication Skills
Communication is usually one of the most challenging skills to master. Communication, whether organisational or interpersonal, is fundamental to the success of any business. The perfect C-suite contender influences the power of persuasion and communication skills. Ability to convey a vision, strategy, ideas, or an issue is the first step to execution.
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and other successful billionaire entrepreneurs have already declared the prominence of communication. According to these leaders, management potential is indicated by an individual?s communication skills, and it is the most influential talent any executive can possess. They advocated the importance of communication and how an executive will be able to develop loyal employees, charm customers, and utilising other sources for increasing revenue for their business.
Richard Branson says that Communication is an art and it takes practice in moulding the craft into mastery. Great CXO?s are realistic and speak with authority. Indra Nooyi is known for being able to decomposing complex problems to simple concepts and communicating them to a diverse group of people. Oprah Winfrey concedes that when it comes to communicating, listening is as essential as speaking. She honestly speaks out about issues that are on the minds of her audience.
Team Building
A world class leader should choose and develop a solid team ? be it internal or external. Team building requires fostering relationship, building consensus, developing empathy, and understanding strengths and weaknesses of people in that eco-system. As distinctively remarked by Andrea Jung, the CEO and president of Grameen America, discovering talent should be an executive's foremost priority. Even the most significant leaders are only as competent as the people with whom they surround themselves. For instance, Jack Ma has surrounded himself with some of the brightest, intelligent and innovative administrators and managers from across the globe.
One of the most relevant attributes of a good leader is the ability to recognise valuable skills and positive qualities in others and manage them compassionately. Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn Group, stresses on compassionate authority. He accentuates the fact of stepping into other's shoes to comprehend their predicaments instead of just expecting irrational sacrifice, resilience and grit. He believes that this trust strengthens active teams for a crucial organisational foundation.
Executives no longer sit behind closed doors; instead, they are more team-oriented, capable of multitasking and ensuring that team members do not suffer burnout. Insureon CEO Ted Devine believes in the approach of no walls, no hierarchy and no barriers in a team.
The most effective executives are not merely team players, in fact, they appreciate how teams work and how to get the full benefit of the group. Sundar Pichai has a humble nature, calm persona, and is always perceived as a people?s person. He firmly believes in helping others succeed and stresses the fact that it is important to trust people in their endeavours and help them flourish. If they are successful in accomplishing whatever they seek, it is their triumph as well as an excellent value-addition for the corporation.
Being a genuine modern-day C-suite executive comes with it considerable challenges. Having precise skills and correct mindset, smart individuals can successfully lead organisations of any size and form. Some individuals are born with these skills, but many require a structured program to develop these skills. It is crucial for people stepping into the employment sector to focus on each of these areas from the very first job so that they have an advantage when it comes to taking the big leap.
Ram Ramachandran
Ram is an accomplished Executive offering a track record of success in leading information management practice and growing businesses by providing strong people management, robust service offerings and quality delivery. Leader delivering several information management strategy, BI& Analytics, data architecture, data management and large scale global life cycle systems implementation. Ram has played leadership roles in bridging the demands of the business with sound strategy, architecture, and governance serving his clients in the Financial Services and Retail industry.
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