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    You are here Home » motivation

    Most Desired Trait by Companies Seeking Senior Executives

    Last updated on Feb 7, 2014 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    I don't often publish press releases, but this one from executive search firm IIC caught my attention and I thought it was worth sharing. It supports what I've been saying for years: It’s the Soft Stuff That’s Really the Hard Stuff and Why Do Businesses and Leaders Fail?

    Most Desired Trait by Companies Seeking Senior Executives is
                    Ability to Motivate and Lead Others

               By 3:1 Margin, Motivational Skills Trump Performance

     "Price of Entry to Corner Office is Competence, But Measure of Success
                    is Inspiring Others," Says IIC Partners

    NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Executive leaders, take
    note. The number one skill that companies and Boards of Directors seek
    in senior executives is the ability to motivate and lead others,
    according to a survey of 1,270 business leaders from around the world
    by IIC Partners, one of the top 10 executive search organizations
    globally.

     By a margin of 3:1, 68 percent of top leaders said they preferred a
    senior executive who could motivate and inspire others more than they
    desired an executive who consistently performed well (mentioned by 26
    percent).

    "The price of entry to the corner office remains competency," said Paul
    Dinte, chairman of IIC Partners. "But once there, a leader's success is
    more about inspiring and motivating others to perform, rather than what
    he or she does individually.

    "The emerging snapshot of today's most valued senior executive is not
    just that of a talented practitioner. Rather, this sought-after
    executive is very 'other-directed' and excels at harnessing the power
    of others through leadership and inspiration."

    After motivational ability, the senior executive traits most valued by
    organizations were: strong ability to manage change (51 percent);
    ability to identify and develop talent (46 percent); innovative
    thinking (30 percent); and consistent high performance (26 percent).

    The survey also uncovered additional characteristics of senior
    executives and senior executive teams around the globe.

    Organizations are increasingly seeking to build senior executive teams
    that include external candidates rather than only internally groomed
    talent. The average Senior Executive Team is made up of:

      --  45 percent internal candidates
      --  38 percent external candidates
      --  17 percent from another division within the same parent company
     "The trend of hiring from the outside has been going on for a while,"
    said Dinte. "Global trends in talent management indicate that companies
    are investing more in grooming internal leaders, and they are doing a
    better job of onboarding the executives they hire from the outside."

    Companies that were more likely to rely heavily on internal, rather
    than external, talent were those with fewer than 500 employees, energy
    and utility companies, and financial services firms.

    Organizations around the world have different expectations of how long
    a senior executive will remain with an organization, but the average is
    seven years. In the Americas, the expectation was slightly longer (7.9
    years), while in Asia-Pacific, it was shorter (5.9 years).

    Length of service also differed by industry. Professional services tend
    to retain senior executives the longest (8.1 years), while the
    pharmaceutical (5.7 years) and consumer products (6.1 years) industries
    hold them for shorter periods of time.

    "Corporate expectations for length of service may have to be managed
    when Gen-X employees reach the C-suite, given how much more frequently
    they tend to change jobs," noted Dinte.

    Fifty-seven percent of respondents said that gender composition of
    their senior executive team was either "important" or "very important."

    Those based in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) rated gender
    composition more important (62 percent) than the overall global
    response. Respondents from Asia-Pacific were below the average, with
    only 48 percent saying gender composition was important to their
    organization.

    About the Survey:
    A total of 1,270 senior-level executives completed an online survey
    during a six-week period in late 2013.

      --  Sixty-two percent of respondents were at the C-suite or Managing
          Director level.
      --  520 were from the Americas, 383 were from EMEA and 347 were from
          Asia-Pacific.
      --  Respondents came from 18 different industries.
      --  Thirty-eight percent were from publicly held organizations, 43 percent
          were from privately-held firms, eight percent were family-owned, five
          percent were not-for-profit, and three percent were from other types of
          firms.
      --  The survey was administered by Amarach Research of Dublin, Ireland.

    About IIC Partners IIC Partners (www.iicpartners.com) is one of the top 10 executive
    search organizations in the world. The network of "Independent
    International Consultants" is made up of 40 independently owned and
    managed executive search firms representing 48 offices in 34 countries,
    all considered to be leaders in the geographic and industry markets
    they serve.
    CONTACT: Kathleen McFadden
    kathleen@buchananpr.com
    610-649-9292

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