47 Key Attributes Chief Executives Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Noah Smith

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Chief executives determine and formulate policies and provide overall direction of companies or private and public sector organizations within guidelines set up by a board of directors or similar governing body. Plan, direct, or coordinate operational activities at the highest level of management with the help of subordinate executives and staff managers.

The core tasks that chief executives are likely to carry out include:

Direct or coordinate an organization's financial or budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, or increase efficiency.
Confer with board members, organization officials, or staff members to discuss issues, coordinate activities, or resolve problems.
Analyze operations to evaluate performance of a company or its staff in meeting objectives or to determine areas of potential cost reduction, program improvement, or policy change.
Direct, plan, or implement policies, objectives, or activities of organizations or businesses to ensure continuing operations, to maximize returns on investments, or to increase productivity.
Prepare budgets for approval, including those for funding or implementation of programs.
Direct or coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that chief executives would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for enterprising work environments. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 97%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 96.8%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 95.8%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 95%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.4%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.2%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92.6%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92.2%

Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 90%

Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 90%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 90%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 90%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89.6%

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 89%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.4%

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 87.6%

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 87.6%

Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 87.6%

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 87.6%

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.6%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.2%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 85%

Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 85%

Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 85%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.8%

Creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.4%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.6%

Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.4%

Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 80%

The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%