The Qualities of Successful Leaders
Last night I attended a very enjoyable talk in Manhattan through my Tulane University Alumni Association.
New York Times Corner Office Columnist (who is also a Tulane Parent) Adam Bryant spoke about “The Qualities of Successful Leaders“.
If you are unfamiliar with Bryant and his column, he conducts interviews with chief executives about their leadership and management styles. The column appears in the New York Times twice weekly, on Friday and Sunday. He has also written a New York Times best-seller, The Corner Office; Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed:
Bryant identified 5 characteristics of CEOs:
1. Passionate curiosity
2. Battle-hardened confidence
3. Team smarts (the organizational equivalent of street smarts)
4. A simple mindset
5. Fearlessness
The book was published in 2010. Bryant says if he were writing it today, he would add a 6th characteristic: Self awareness.
He also talked about “neoteny” as an important characteristic of business leaders. If you are unfamiliar with the word (I certainly was), it means “the retention of juvenile qualities in the adult animal.” Very interesting!
Bryant also shared some “out of the box” interview questions that I like. They’re not wacky, but also not traditional. They are thought provoking, and likely to draw the interviewee out, including:
How would you describe who you are, in the core of your DNA, in one word?
What qualities do you like most and least about your parents?
What is the biggest misperception people have about you?
Then he conducted a Corner Office style interview with Tulane President Scott Cowen:
Cowen made some comments about hiring that I agree with 100%. He said that people tend to make hiring decisions based on great personality or a pristine resume. . . but he hires based on accomplishments. To build on that, he said that meaningful accomplishments don’t happen in a year or two…it takes at least 5 years…but at a certain point; Cowen says around the 10 year mark, it is time to move on.
Overall, an entertaining & informative evening. I will read an upcoming book by both Bryant (Quick and Nimble; Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation, coming out in January) and Cowen’s already-published book, Urban Innovation: New Orleans Five Years After Katrina.
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