Characteristics of chief executive officers Views of their staff Available to Purchase

This exploratory study investigated the characteristics that the direct reports of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) associated with the latter's success. A small number of direct reports (34) were interviewed and asked to identify these characteristics. The three characteristics that were considered to be very important were having a humanistic approach, being a positive thinker, and having an achievement orientation. Some importance was placed on having integrity. Very little or no emphasis was placed on the importance of being inclusive, learning and self‐awareness, having a balanced approach and an external focus. Future research needs to build on these findings by asking the CEOs to comment on the characteristics they believe they possess and to compare the two sets of data to further our understanding of effective leadership. There are important implications from these results for the selection and development of CEOs.