What are the qualities of a CEO that will build the South Africa of the future?

One of the unavoidable realities of being a turnaround professional is that you have to provide companies with a harsh reality check that they have possibly been avoiding for some time. At the end of the day, companies do not end up in financial distress by themselves.

It is true that we are operating in a difficult business environment that does carry some risks that have the potential of placing a company into business rescue. However, these are – at the moment – extreme cases. About 80% of financially distressed companies can trace their current position to a string of poor decisions, financial mismanagement, or gross mismanagement by the board of the company.

Because of this, the first step to addressing financial distress is often replacing the board with new leadership. For a company that on the cusp of financial ruin, one needs to make the best selection when it comes to the CEO. I recently read an article by McKinsey which discusses the qualities that a good CEO should have.

Take a gut check of your motivations and expectations

The article points out that Sir Edmund Hillary once said, “Everest is not about summiting, adding to your image, the conquest of nature or of other humans,” experienced mountaineers share in a guide to climbing Mount Everest. To climbers driven by such motivations, they say, “You will become a prisoner of other people’s judgment in your desire of proving self-worth. You will climb blinded and feel an immense failure if not summiting. Or if successful—go home, celebrate your triumph and fame, and when the lights eventually are turned towards someone else, end up empty.”

Former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) CEO Michael Fisher makes a similar point when it comes to leading organizations. “If the main reason you want to have the CEO title is for ego, that’s unlikely to be a sustainable motivator over time.” Expanding on Fisher’s point, the following table shows a short list of motivations and expectations that provide a good litmus test for whether you’re well suited for the top role.

Topic	Unsustainable motivation	Sustainable motivation
Why I want to be CEO	It’s the next step and comes with more power, money, and esteem	I have an exciting vision for the impact the company and I can achieve together
What being chosen as CEO would mean	I’ve proven myself and attained my ultimate goal	It’s a privilege to serve as CEO for the company’s next chapter
What not being chosen as CEO would mean	I lost the race, am not CEO material, and have let others down	I’m becoming the best I can be, even if I’m not the right fit here

The McKinsey article adds that, if your mindsets on the topics lean toward those in the unsustainable column, it’s unlikely that you’ll find the CEO job worth the effort. The ego satisfaction you’ll get from landing the top job will soon provide small comfort in the face of mounting demands. You’ll be spinning more plates far more intensively than you have in any other role as you set direction, align the organization, mobilize leaders, engage the board, connect with stakeholders, and manage your personal effectiveness.

Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom, who’s spent his career researching CEOs, describes the reality he’s observed: “It’s frankly a horrible job. I wouldn’t want it. Being a CEO of a big company is a hundred-hour-a-week job. It consumes your life. It consumes your weekend. It’s super stressful. Sure, there’re enormous perks, but it’s also all encompassing.”

Reinforcing the point, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella describes the job as “24/7.” His late mentor Bill Campbell, who had been a CEO three times and was an influential coach to several technology industry leaders, would often remind him, “No one has ever lived to outwork the job. It will always be bigger than you.” Many CEOs secretly agree that the best job in the world is actually the one right below the CEO. There the spotlight burns less brightly, yet the opportunities to make a difference are great, as are the rewards.

The article points out that without the right motivations and expectations, not only will you find that the effort required to be CEO outweighs any personal gain, but you will also be less likely to succeed. As CCHMC’s Fisher puts it, “If you’re not driven by a deep care and concern for the institution you have the privilege to lead and for its stakeholders, then when the going gets tough, you won’t step up to the challenge.”

For these reasons, we encourage any executive setting their sights on the summit to do some genuine soul searching before deciding to make the final ascent. If it’s all about you, or if you’re doing it out of a sense of obligation, know that the top will be a hostile, extreme place where no one will rescue you during times of trouble.

If, however, you’re driven by a passion and vision for how you can help others climb further and faster to achieve new heights collectively, you’ll more than likely end up on a deeply fulfilling adventure. Former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault captures this winning mindset, “If you want to lead, you have to be committed to serve.”

The article adds that, when taking a gut check of your motivations and expectations, don’t forgot to consider the impact that the new job will have on your family members. “The role affects your family far more than you think it will,” reflects Aon’s CEO, Greg Case. Former General Mills CEO Ken Powell explains, “You’re in the newspaper; they’re publishing your salary or talking about when you screw things up. It can be hard on kids. That part is unpleasant.” His advice to aspiring CEOs is simple: “You need to talk it over with your partner if you have one. In my case, my wife and I agreed, ‘OK, this is just part of the pluses and minuses.’” Indeed, virtually every successful CEO we’ve worked with has shared that having a spouse or partner who understands and is supportive of the nature of the job is essential.

Elevate your perspective while boldly delivering results

In 2002, Harvard Kennedy School professors Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky introduced a new metaphor into management literature—the concept of “getting off the dance floor and going to the balcony.” The metaphor juxtaposes delivering on daily work (being on the dance floor) with stepping back and seeing the big picture (being on the balcony). The most effective leaders, according to Heifetz and Linsky, are those with the ability to do both at once. This metaphor is particularly useful as your candidacy for the top job develops. During that time, it’s vital that you keep the following actions in mind:

• Don’t miss a step on the dance floor—deliver on your day job.
• Climb onto a higher balcony to hone your view of the future, the company, and the company’s stakeholders.
• Be bold, whether on the balcony or the dance floor.

When General Motors’ Barra stepped into the role of chief HR officer (CHRO) at General Motors, she chose not to focus on the next job. Instead, she embraced the CHRO position and proceeded to redefine talent management, leadership development, compensation, benefits, healthcare, organizational transformation, and other HR systems. “Do the job you’re doing today like you’re going to do it for the rest of your life,” she advises, “because that means you’re going to invest in it, you’re going to make it better, and you’re going to drive efficiencies.”

The McKinsey article points out that, when it comes to being on the balcony, there are three perspectives you’ll want to hone. The first is looking into the future of your industry. Microsoft’s Nadella says that to be a successful CEO, “You have to have an absolutely first-class view of where the world is going.” In fact, Nadella’s perspective was very much what helped him become CEO. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that Microsoft would pick a new leader from outside the company. As part of the selection process, candidates were asked to write a memo regarding where they would take the company and why. Nadella, in his memo, laid out the visionary social, mobile, and cloud strategy that persuaded the board to choose him over other candidates and has ultimately resulted in Microsoft becoming one of the most valuable companies on the planet.

The next viewpoint involves looking more broadly across the whole organization—far beyond your area of responsibility. This is easier to do if, during your career, you’ve rotated across roles in various parts of the business. During the final ascent, however, switching jobs might not be a good idea. “I’ve seen too many candidates two years out make the mistake of moving to roles they don’t have time to succeed in,” offers former Westpac Banking CEO Gail Kelly. “It becomes a recipe for disaster.” More reliable ways to broaden your perspective during the final ascent are to get involved in enterprise-level projects, committees, and development programs; invest time in getting educated in other areas; and take an explicitly company-first perspective in your decision making (even if it’s not the best answer for your area).

The article adds that the third view from the balcony peers over the stakeholder landscape. CEOs of today’s large companies must have a point of view on a wide variety of societal and environmental issues. Therefore, they need to have their pulse on employee, customer, and board sentiments and use them to help shape their company’s principles as issues emerge. It takes real time and effort to form thoughtful, educated, institution-level (versus personal) points of view on issues such as responsible AI, rising inequality, political polarization, geopolitical instability, deteriorating climate, and so on.

A trip wire to be wary of, both on the balcony and the dance floor, is risk aversion. Savvy boards are well aware of the conclusive evidence that companies led by CEOs who lack the courage to make bold moves are unlikely to outperform the competition. Westpac’s Kelly uses a cricket analogy to illustrate the point: “As a CEO candidate, you can’t just defend the wicket and hope that you don’t get out. You must step up and hit the ball … never, ever say to yourself, ‘What I’ve done is enough.’”

Take Barra at General Motors. One of the first things she did on taking the HR role was to abolish the company’s ten-page dress code and replace it with two words: “dress appropriately.” Doing so was less about clothing than about signaling her willingness to take on General Motors’ hundred-year-old, stodgy, paternal culture and shift it to one that recognized and empowered employees’ own instincts. Such boldness helped her stand out from her peers in the eyes of the CEO and board as the right leader to take the company into the future.

Building sustainability

This article is very relevant within the current South African narrative. How often have we seen companies get destroyed by leadership who are:

• ill appointed;
• self-serving; and
• blind to the bigger picture.

What is the bigger picture? If you are a CEO that is motivated by selfish, short-sighted goals, then there will be many more examples of companies that once served the greater good floundering into shells of their former selves. CEOs should take lessons from the Samurai. The word Samurai means to serve; CEOs do not serve themselves; they contribute to the country’s economic growth and provides for the communities around them. South Africa can become a economic powerhouse once again if we are driven by well run companies that serve the greater good and not self-profiting.

Phahlani Mkhombo is the MD of Genesis Corporate Solutions and is a Senior Business Rescue Practitioner.