Last week, I heard from Adam Bryant, writer of the Corner Office in the NYTimes, in a Harvard course. Adam Bryant has spent the last few years asking CEOs not what they do but how they do what they do and how they learned what they do. The Corner Office column took off quickly with a compilation of leadership and life lessons from these CEOs.
Adam wrote an interesting piece on the “5 Habits of Highly Effective CEOs” in mid April that summarizes his takeaways.
Here are some highlights on his CEO interviews from his visit to our course:
- A CEO what must understand what they need on executive team: a visionary, an enforcer, classic manager, and a customer representative.
- The importance of listening: CEOs limit the distractions of technology by turning off the iPhone and blackberry when they know it is important for a manager to feel they are being listened to.
- The importance of giving direct feedback: It’s not what you say it’s how you say it. Good CEOs are more of a coach to people who work for them, rather than the boss. One CEO offers ‘office hours’ to his entire staff to offer time for this coaching.
- Effective CEOs study a system before they shift it. Young graduates often run into companies thinking they are going to instantly change a system but he reiterates patience and listening as crucial here.
- Of the fortune 1000 companies there are 13 female CEOs. Women have been seen to understand team smarts and group dynamics more than men. The future of companies will be working on ad-hoc teams, not an organizational chart model and women have a leg up.