Criteria to become CEO

An article worth reading if you're almost there in becoming CEO is the one by Dan Ciampia (advisor on leadership transitions) in the HBR of Jan 05. In the article, Ciampa shares some of his rich experience and knowledge about how you can distinguished good CEO candidates from the ones that actually make it.

According to Ciampa the three most important criteria to become CEO are:

1. Management savvy (a. avoid jumping in personally to solve problems others can handle, b. make the right judgments about what to expend energy on, c. maintain control of the key decisions and a full pipeline of talented people, d. make people feel appreciated and stay loyal)
2. Political intelligence (a. don't be labeled "political", b. recognize how relationships are likely to affect early success, c. get peers and subordinates to go out of their way to help, d. don't seem self-serving)
3. Personal style (a. make success look effortless, b. allow others' performance to be recognized too, c. manage energy to stay on the 'rested edge' and to avoid the 'ragged edge', d. enable peers to improve their performance, e. stay grounded and make sure basic needs are met while mastering new concepts)

On top of that, Dan Ciampa recommends to make sure you 1. understand your boss's point of view [whether he is worth it or not :)], 2. know your limitations [don't dive in the deep too early], and you 3. manage the shadow organization [grasp the alliances and political realities that come with the top-level job].

Peter Drucker on leading large corporations

The grandfather of management gurus has spoken one more time: be sure you don't miss the interview with the now 95 year old (!) Peter Drucker in Forbes on leading large corporations. Good stuff to help you think about your coming targets for 2005. It's a bit speaking in commonplaces, but hey: this is Drucker...
In the article, Drucker says successful leaders:

1. Make sure that things that make a difference get done, whether by themselves or by somebody else;
2. Check their performance against previously defined goals;
3. Are mission / purpose driven and say no to things that don't contribute;
4. Know early when to stop trying doing something that can't be done;
5. Organize their travel, leveraging new technology where possible;
6. Have a maximum of two organizational goals at the same time;
7. Make sure the people around them understand their priorities;
8. Build on their strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.

Read the rest of the article here.