What makes an Effective Executive?

Worried that you’re not a born leader? 

That you lack charisma, the right talents, or some other secret ingredient? 

Then worry no more: leadership isn’t about personality or talent. In fact, the best leaders exhibit wildly different personalities, attitudes, values, and strengths-they’re extroverted or reclusive, easygoing or controlling, generous or parsimonious, numbers or vision oriented.

So what do effective leaders have in common? They get the right things done, in the right ways-by following eight simple rules:

- Ask what needs to be done
- Ask what’s right for the enterprise
- Develop action plans
- Take responsibility for decisions
- Take responsibility for communicating
- Focus on opportunities, not problems
- Run productive meetings
- Think and say “We”, not “I”

The first two practices gives them the knowledge they need. The next four helps them convert this knowledge into effective action. The last two ensures that the whole organization feels responsible and accountable.

Let’s focus on the first two practices first:

i. Ask what needs to be done? Note that the question is not “What do I want to do?”

When Jack Welch, America’s best-known CEO asked this question, he realized that dropping GE (General Electric) businesses that could not be first or second in their industries was essential and not the overseas expansion he had wanted to launch. Once you know what must be done, identify tasks you’re best at, concentrating on one at a time. Every five years, according to his autobiography, Jack Welch asked himself, “What needs to be done now?” And every time, he came up with a new and different priority.

ii.  Is this the right thing for the enterprise? They do not if it’s right for the owners, the stock price, the employees, or the executives. Of course they know that shareholders, employees, and executives are important constituencies who have to support a decision, or at least acquiesce in it, if the choice is to be effective. They know that decision that isn’t right for the enterprise will ultimately not be right for any of the stakeholders.

This second rule is especially important for executives at family owned or family run businesses-the majority of businesses in every country. In the successful family company, a relative is promoted only if he or she is measurably superior to all nonrelatives on the same level. At DuPont, for instance, all top managers (except the controller and lawyer) were family members in the early years when the firm was run as a family business. All male descendants of the founders were entitled to entry-level jobs at the company. Beyond the entrance level, a family member only got a promotion only if a panel composed primarily of nonfamily members judged the person to be superior in ability and performance to all other employees at the same level!

Credits: Peter F. Drucker - HBR's 10 MUST READS On Leadership

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