4 Traits All Successful CEOs Share

When you read about the success stories of CEOs around the world, it’s definitely not by chance that they share many traits. While some may attribute their success to luck, there’s also no denying that a majority of the success they now enjoy is a result of their collective effort to work hard every single day. They take risks, carefully calculate business moves, and make a lot of sacrifices.

If you’re a budding entrepreneur yourself, it doesn’t hurt to read through CEO background statistics to get a gist of what successful CEOs have that helped them get where they are. Like any entrepreneur, these CEOs most likely started small. This journey of growth can motivate you to learn from their experiences, stories, and traits, and to kickstart your own entrepreneurial journey as well.

To inspire you, here are four traits all successful CEOs have in common:

1. Resilience
   Successful CEOs are resilient. This means that whatever challenges come their way, they don’t let these negatively affect them. Their emotional and intelligence quotient is high, such that CEOs can even make the most out of these challenges to further hone their skills and develop their business, among others.
   The business industry is characteristically unstable. Unexpected changes can affect the market instantly, and few people are ever prepared for them. Not even large and established businesses can guarantee successfully navigating through these challenges.
   If these businesses are spearheaded by resilient CEOs, they’re more likely to make it through unforeseen challenges and potential closures. As the situation gets better, they can lead their business in the right direction, bounce back, and keep pushing forward.

   With that said, here are key insights on how you can develop resilience:

   – Create that mindset that you and your business have a strong ability to cope with uncertainty;
   – Deal with what you’re going through as an organization as soon as it happens, so solutions can be provided immediately;
   – Activate positivity as part of your company culture.

2. Accountability
   A successful CEO is also aware of the influence and position they hold in an organization. Having the highest position in the company, they know that they carry significant responsibilities. This means that CEOs have to be accountable for their actions and decisions. Instead of blaming others for any mishaps, they focus more on the outcome of their choices and decisions, not just for themselves but for every member of the company.
   More importantly, a CEO who possesses accountability is clear with their expectations when dealing with clients, employees, colleagues, suppliers, and other key players in the organization.
   Here are reasons why accountability is a very important trait to possess for CEOs:
   – It sets the right company culture of honesty and integrity where even the employees aren’t afraid to own up to their mistakes;
   – It promotes stronger regard for compliance with legal standards and measures, as being accountable for your actions also means you now have that awareness of how your actions can direct your business towards failure due to non-compliance with the law;
   – It promotes employee engagement because your employees will feel that their goals and values align with yours as the CEO.

   

3. High Emotional Intelligence
   The best CEOs are those who aren’t indifferent to their employees. While you may hold a higher position in the organization, each employee in your company has a key role to play for your business to succeed. Effect leaders value collaboration, public relations, and establishing mutually beneficial relationships with everyone in the workforce. A good CEO, therefore, understands their employees’ emotions. They’re uplifting, easy to be with, and approachable.
   Here are some tips on how you can also start improving your emotional quotient:
   – Learn to appreciate and acknowledge the emotions of those around you—remember that employees have mental and emotional limits, too;
   – Create a strong sense of certainty that you can face the future well, no matter what it brings;
   – Embrace self-awareness, which means you know yourself better than anybody else.
4. Good Work-Life Balance
   The employees of any organization are naturally going to mirror and look up to their CEO. After all, it’s the CEO that’s running the organization. So, it’s important to set the right example for your team. One of the most essential qualities that successful CEOs exemplify is having a good work-life balance.
   A successful CEO doesn’t drown themselves in work all the time. Rather, they know their limits and make time for other things that fuel their drive and passion in life. This means that no matter how busy they may be, their professional life doesn’t get in the way of having a happy and fulfilled personal life.
   When this is achieved, the whole organization also tends to be more productive and happier. Employees won’t have to feel like they can’t take breaks, or that they’re required to go home late because their boss does the same.
   With that said, if you feel you’ve been struggling with maintaining a healthy work-life balance, here are key insights into how you can start promoting a good work-life balance in your organization:

   – Take the time to exercise, and make this option also available to your employees by offering gym memberships as part of their health and wellness benefits plan;
   – Learn how to organize tasks according to priority so you can get the most difficult and important tasks out of the way immediately;
   – Offer childcare services to employees who absolutely need it, especially for the single parents in your team.

Conclusion

Whatever the next step of your career path may be, possessing the skills mentioned above that successful CEOs share can put you on a good start to success. More importantly, remember that they didn’t achieve their success overnight. Successful CEOs of small and large companies had to go through a lot of hard work and sacrifice. So, to make your own mark in the industry, you have to be willing to put in the effort as well. As you can see, CEOs have a unique set of mental, emotional, and behavioral traits that contribute to their success. It wouldn’t hurt to start developing these traits for yourself, too.