What makes a great CEO?

CEO's are an enigma to most people. I have a soft spot in my heart for the guys and gals that are at the helm - particularly those in smaller companies. People often expect them to be experts at just about everything because they have the top job. Sometimes they are, but most of the time, they just have the right mix of skills to be the critical success criteria for the company. Here are a few items that I view as absolutely required in a CEO and leader.

Ability to inspire and motivate.
Maybe it's just me, but I reject the notion that motivation by fear works in business - at least it doesn't work for me. My innate reaction is to disconnect when people attempt to motivate me with fear tactics. In my experience as a CEO, people need to be inspired to give themselves fully to a job. When they believe that what they are doing is a critical component to the success of the operation and that the leadership is grateful for their work, they will give even more effort - and be happy about it. There are certainly times when direct communication is necessary with those that aren't performing, but I don't believe people perform better because they fear they will lose their job - not for very long anyway.

Vision
"If you don't know where you are going, you aren't likely going to get there" is an old line that represents part of the answer - people need to know the "definition of success" and the "definition of complete." Clearly, succinctly, and most of all, unwaveringly. That said - great leaders will paint a picture of the direction of the project as well as its individual milestones. It is crucial to talk about the big picture in terms that demonstrate the benefits to those who we are serving. Seeing how this little thing we are working on today fits into a much larger and beneficial vision will fully engage others in the creative aspects of deliverables.

Integrity
It is a shame that the press spends so much of its energy focusing on the examples of CEO's gone bad. There are certainly plenty in recent years that have caused tremendous hardship to those around them - yet I believe that well over 95% of the CEO's out there have strong integrity and ethics and truly want a legacy that reflects that. All of the money in the world will not buy integrity replacement. Integrity is not one of those traits you can persuade people by talking about about how much you have - it is one of those traits that must be observed - you get caught demonstrating your integrity. The best way to take a proactive stance on it is to practice transparency. Let people in on your decision making thinking - admit when you change your mind and explain why. You don't have to tell everything, you just have to answer the question. A wise advisor, Kamran Elahian, once told me to stand up in front of the company every week and tell them what was going on, and field any question asked. I was never comfortable with public speaking, so although initially terrified of the potential consequences of damage control, I trusted and did it... for years. It allowed me to demonstrate my integrity through transparency - steadily and consistently: Through the good and the bad. When I was asked a question that I didn't feel appropriate to answer - I would just say so. "Are we going to have a layoff?" "I am not ready to talk about that, but here is what I can tell you..."

Smart
Of all of the traits, this is the hardest one to identify. I have met a lot of people that seemed smart - big vocabularies, clever metaphors, and rapid conclusions. They looked the part - but when crunch time came - they didn't really have the gray matter to hold complex thinking. It's not like a test will tell you too much - you have to work with them to know. You have to see them in action. How fast can they pickup new concepts? How often can they connect ancillary subjects to come up with a better solution? And are they smart enough to check their ego at the door? Ironically, those that are clear about what they don't know have often been the smartest.

Planning, execution and decision making
Attempting to separate these skills was just too hard - they are just too closely related. The ability to set a course through an easily communicated plan is the only way the team will know what is being measured. From virtually everyone's perspective, execution is what is being measured at the end. And decision making is the only real metric of execution. This is the meat and potatoes of any CEO's job, although they should spend at least as much time working ON the company as IN the company. A valuable lesson I learned from Bob Grabill at the CEN (Chief Executive Network)

There are certainly other important traits, but these are absolute requirements in my opinion for being a great CEO and leader. Many could be debated as items you must be born with - but I believe that all of them can be developed. You don't have to be a CEO to be a leader - honing these skills is critical to making things happen with teams of any size.