Published in the San Diego Union-Tribune, August 5, 2024
by Neil Senturia
You graduate from business school; you are poised to enter the fray, knowing that eventually you will be picked to be the CEO of a worldwide global whatever. After all, that is why you went to an Ivy League school to get an MBA.
And the story to the newly minted from a study by the Corporate Executive Board, now a part of Gartner, is this: 50 percent to 70 percent of executives fail within the first 18 months, regardless of whether they were hired from outside or promoted from within.
Fear not — there is hope. Raffaella Sadun, a professor at Harvard, has done a study that is primal, simple and compelling and will probably be ignored by most candidates. It says, “Set aside your slide presentations and work on your listening skills.”
There it is. Read ’em and weep. The charismatic, charming, smooth, verbal guy you hated in high school — don’t worry, he is not getting that job. Maybe you will find him working the counter at a Chipotle.
Now let’s go a bit deeper. There is a massive difference between “hearing” and “listening.” For example, President Joe Biden has good hearing, but that other feature needed some tuning on the dial. Finally, indeed, he listened.
Sadun says what is needed to get to the C-suite are “social skills.” Now that might lead you to believe that you need to improve your schmoozing, but that is not what is wanted. Rather, a successful CEO needs to “integrate empathy and understanding.” Sure, a big vision is certainly on the table, but Sadun asks, “Can you touch the chords of listeners?”
You need to be an ear, nose and throat doctor. Then add in the ability to “persuade” without putting a gun to someone’s head. That is the magic nexus where the real gold lies.
So, now to my little AI company. At the moment, I am the CEO. I am hopeful to find a replacement soon. Sure, that is what I say out loud to the investors, but that issue of releasing the reins, when I am clearly “the most qualified person to be president” — well, someone might need to yank those reins out of my cold dead hands.
At my first company, which was venture-backed, I was founder and CEO. At the four-year mark, the board replaced me with someone who, in my humble opinion, was a total hack.
I really disliked him. Let me be really clear: I hated him.
He had been there three months when I not so politely went around him, called our biggest competitor and sold the company 45 days later for north of $60 million. The new CEO wanted a sinecure and a paycheck forever. I wanted my dough and to get out of Dodge.
Going quietly into the night was not in my DNA.
Sadun says the new breed of CEO needs to “be aware of others’ reactions and then understand where those reactions come from.” Now this sounds like good psychological-caring-connected-thoughtful interaction leadership.
Except take a peek at Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs — not folks you would call long on touchy-feely, anxious to listen closely— and try to meet your needs.
More along the line of, don’t let the door hit you … .
Sadun writes that the modern CEO “must gather more input and buy-in from a larger and more diverse range of experts.” In other words, listen well, then collaborate.
OK, now the big question. Can the social skills, empathy and the art of listening be taught? I know the candidate will understand finance, AI, scale, technology, vision — but are you coachable? Can you learn to throw the “splinker”?
No candidate is perfect, so the default position is often to just take the person closest to the executive search job description and figure on fixing later. That is the classic mistake.
Do not assume you can add whatever piece of the puzzle that is missing later It is not an algorithm. And if you are absolutely going to need to fit him/her with a new set of ear buds, take a pass.
Hearing can be measured on an audiometer. Listening can only be measured by the heart.
Rule No. 818: Please turn up the volume a little.