CEOs and Politicians: Anything in Common?

There's an interesting article today by David Brooks of the New York Times about personality traits of successful CEOs. You might think that it's important for CEOs to be charismatic, good team builders, effective communicators and have empathy. Turns out, though, that the research indicates these characteristics are not important in the making of a successful CEO.

The researchers found that strong people skills correlated only loosely or not at all with being a good CEO. What mattered most were execution and organizational skills. Turns out that the most important traits a successful CEO can have are attention to detail, persistence, efficiency, analytic thoroughness and the ability to work long hours.

The personality traits of charisma, being a good team builder and effective communicator are important for politicians, but not CEOs. For this reason, according to Mr. Brooks, business and politics do not blend well. But we now have an administration that is freely engaging in management of industry after industry. This can only have disastrous effects in the long run.