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Liubov Nazukina
A chief executive (CEO) is a person who can lead a company to the top of the market. At the same time, they can ruin it by inappropriate management. This role comes with huge responsibility and requires a strong set of leadership skills. Just imagine, up to 83% of leaders feel unprepared for their job (McKinsey).
Quite often, chief executives don’t recognize important problems in their work. Whether it's team issues, challenges with third parties, or even personal difficulties, they often dive into the operational activities, especially in small businesses. Thus, they end up with insufficient time for reflection and learning the art of leadership.
To be successful, every chief executive needs a blend of management and leadership skills. It's crucial to develop all of them. Today, strong leadership guides the organization through challenges. It capitalizes on opportunities and achieves sustainable personal growth.
Let’s look at seven key skills that make you, as a chief executive, a great leader.
Visionary thinking is essential for a chief executive's success. It helps:
Visionary thinking is key to competitiveness and business transformation. That’s how you can develop it:
The ability to foresee industry shifts and challenges is vital for visionary leadership. It's very important not just to react to change, but to anticipate it. This forward-looking mindset helps your company stay innovative and resilient.
Tip: Regularly read industry publications and attend conferences to stay ahead of emerging trends and innovations.
I recommend:
Visionary leaders inspire their teams to innovate and pursue ambitious goals. Innovation thrives when leaders encourage experimentation, embrace diverse perspectives, and celebrate learning from both successes and failures.
Tip: Foster creativity by creating a safe environment where team members can share ideas without fear of criticism.
The Coursera course Neurodiversity in Workplaces: Inclusive Leadership empowers you to cultivate a team environment where everyone feels safe, valued, and free to contribute.
A deep understanding of industry trends, market dynamics, and emerging technologies is vital. Strong market awareness enables you to better understand customer needs, track competitor strategies, and make sure your company’s vision fits future industry trends.
Tip: Engage in continuous learning through formal education, online courses, and workshops to expand your knowledge. Keep current with developments in your industry.
For instance, you can take short, practical programs on Coursera. To stay informed about broader industry trends, follow trusted sources like McKinsey, World Economic Forum, or Statista for reliable data and analysis.
A culture of experimentation and risk-taking drives progress and innovation.
Tip: Create an environment where it’s safe to test new ideas, teams have creative thinking, challenge assumptions, and uncover better solutions. Even when experiments don’t succeed, they generate valuable lessons and can become the source of innovations.
The course Organisational Innovation and Creativity will help you inspire your team to embrace innovation, take risks, and think creatively.
Visionary leaders continuously reassess their strategies and make necessary adjustments.
Tip: Regularly connect with colleagues, mentors, and professionals to discover new perspectives and refine your strategies. Actively utilize data analytics to make informed decisions and identify trends.
75% of executives believe that mentoring has been a crucial factor in their career success. A great resource to find a mentor is the Oxford Leadership Mentoring Programme.
So, visionary thinking is key to innovation, inspiring change, and achieving great goals. It blends a future-focused outlook with practical leadership skills.
Strategic planning is a critical executive skill that plays a great role in long-term success. This skill goes beyond merely setting objectives; it is more about a comprehensive understanding of the market, managing risks, and the agility to adapt to change.
With the following tips, you can enhance your strategic planning capabilities.
Focus on long-term goals and envision where the organization should be in the future. Look beyond immediate challenges and consider the bigger picture. Also, keep up with industry trends and market conditions. Read industry publications and attend conferences.
If you want to develop a strategic mindset, the course Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization is a great resource.
Analyze both internal and external environments. For instance, I recommend conducting SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analyses to understand your business's position and prospects. Actively utilize data analytics, such as customer behavior, to inform strategic decisions.
Foster open communication with employees, investors, partners, and your customers. Encourage feedback and involve them in the strategic planning process.
The course Effective Communication Skills for Today’s Leader helps you improve your communication and leadership skills.
Define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that align with the organization's vision. And break down strategic goals into actionable steps.
You can get the course Leadership and Goal Setting to master the art of setting and implementing objectives and key results.
Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress and regularly track them. Moreover, be prepared to make changes in your strategy.
Let’s look at some common KPI:
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage emotions—both one's and others. A leader with strong emotional intelligence better leads teams, fosters inclusivity, and creates a more attractive atmosphere for employees. This boosts the organization’s performance and enhances the chief executive's reputation.
Successful leaders with strong emotional intelligence create a work environment where 70% (Hay Group) of the climate is positive and team performance is higher.
Emotional Intelligence is typically broken down into five key components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. They all play a role in leadership’s effectiveness:
Self-awareness helps chief executives understand their strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and the impact of their behavior on others. This awareness enables them to make more informed decisions and remain grounded during crises.
Tips
You can pay attention to the course Self Awareness and the Effective Leader.
Self-regulation helps control emotions, particularly in difficult situations. The emotional stability builds a trustworthy environment, where employees feel secure and work with no stress.
Tips
If you want to master your emotions, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence offers Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty & Stress, which helps you to recognize, regulate, and build resilience.
Motivation, as a passion for their work and a commitment to the organization’s mission, inspires and energizes the whole team.
Tips
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Chief executives should be attuned to the emotions and needs of employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Empathy helps them build strong relationships and create a work culture that values and respects every team member.
Tips
Social skills are another key component of emotional intelligence. Chief executives with strong social skills excel in communication, conflict resolution, and create a positive organizational climate.
Tips
The course Teamwork Skills: Communicating Effectively in Groups will help you to work well with different group members.
So, I believe, emotional intelligence is a key driver of sustainable success in today's business world, making it an essential skill for any chief executive.
Adaptability and flexibility are top CEO skills. Adaptability lets you adjust to new challenges, embrace change, and spot opportunities others might miss. Flexibility helps you stay calm under pressure, handle stress, and guide your team through tough times.
Below, I offer five tips on how to improve adaptability and flexibility:
The ability to adapt to new challenges and pivot when necessary is what separates successful leaders from the rest.
Conflict is an inevitable aspect of any organization. The way you manage it can significantly impact the success and harmony of a team.
The ability to navigate and resolve conflicts is a critical leadership skill for chief executives to maintain a positive work environment, keep the team focused on goals, and make balanced decisions. When you can resolve conflicts promptly and fairly, it builds trust, enhances credibility, and reduces risks.
Let’s review key conflict resolution skills.
Active listening is the foundation of effective conflict resolution. When a chief executive fully understands the points of view of all parties involved, they can address the root causes of conflicts rather than just the symptoms.
Tip: Encourage open dialogue and ensure that all voices are heard during discussions. Repeat what you heard to confirm an accurate understanding and demonstrate empathy.
Effective conflict resolution claims a focus on solutions that satisfy all parties involved. A chief executive with strong problem-solving skills can turn challenges into opportunities for growth.
Tip: Take apart the conflict into manageable parts, identify the main issues, and work together with the involved parties to develop mutually beneficial solutions.
In most cases, negotiation is a basis of conflict resolution. A chief executive must be adept at negotiating compromises that meet the needs of all stakeholders and the organization’s goals.
Tip: Go to negotiations with a mood of partnership rather than competition. Seek win-win outcomes and be willing to make concessions when necessary.
The course Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Leadership Skills provides practical tools and techniques to help executives achieve win-win outcomes, resolve conflicts effectively, and negotiate compromises.
There are times when a chief executive must make tough decisions to resolve conflicts. Decisiveness is crucial for resolving conflicts quickly, preventing them from lingering and negatively impacting the organization.
Tip: Gather all relevant information, weigh the options, and make informed decisions promptly. Communicate your decisions clearly and confidently to all parties involved.
Mastering conflict resolution is essential for long-term success. It helps the company stay flexible and strong when facing challenges.
Effective delegation allows chief executives to stay focused on long-term goals and innovation. Moreover, delegation helps reduce stress and prevent burnout. The key delegation CEO skills are:
Not every task should be delegated. It's crucial to identify which responsibilities can be effectively handled by others and which require their direct attention.
Tip: Assess the importance, urgency, and complexity of tasks, and delegate those that others can manage without compromising quality or outcomes.
Clear communication is essential to successful delegation. Without it, tasks may be misunderstood or poorly executed.
Tip: Clearly outline the objectives, expectations, and deadlines for each task, and be available to guide if needed.
Trust is the foundation of effective delegation. Without it, a chief executive may feel the need to micromanage, which defeats the purpose of delegation.
Tip: Give your team the autonomy to complete their tasks and trust them to deliver results.
Monitoring progress ensures that tasks stay on track.
Tip: Check in periodically to review progress, offer support, and provide constructive feedback to help team members improve.
Delegation not only enhances organisational performance but also contributes to the overall success and sustainability of the chief executive. To improve your leadership skills, you can take the course Effective Delegation: How To Delegate Work & Responsibility.
Ethical leadership is key to a chief executive's success, building trust and credibility while shaping a positive workplace culture. This approach strengthens the company and boosts employee engagement and loyalty.
Integrity is the foundation of ethical leadership.
Tip: Lead by example, making decisions that reflect honesty and fairness. Be consistent in your actions and words.
Transparency builds trust and credibility. A transparent chief executive communicates openly about the organization’s goals, challenges, and decisions.
Tip: Share information honestly, admit mistakes, and be clear about the reasoning behind decisions.
Accountability ensures that a chief executive takes responsibility for their actions and decisions.
Tip: Own up to mistakes, encourage a culture of accountability within the team, and ensure that ethical guidelines are followed at all levels.
Fairness in decision-making promotes equality and justice within the organization. It ensures that you respect all members of the team and stakeholders.
Tip: Make decisions that consider the impact on all parties involved, avoid favoritism, and ensure that policies are applied consistently.
Empathy allows us to understand and consider the perspectives of others, leading to more ethical and compassionate decisions.
Tip: Listen and consider the needs and concerns of employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Use this information in decision-making processes.
Ethical leadership is essential for the success of any chief executive. It builds trust and credibility, fosters a positive organizational culture, ensures long-term sustainability, navigates complex challenges, and attracts top talent. Ethical leadership also strengthens an organization from the inside out.
To succeed in today’s competitive world, chief executives need to balance managing the business with strong leadership. For example, Steve Jobs was known for his visionary critical thinking skills, which helped Apple become an effective leader in innovation.
Key effective leadership skills for chief executives, like visionary thinking, strategic planning, emotional intelligence, adaptability, conflict resolution, delegation, and ethical leadership, are essential. They can help inspire teams to reach new heights. A successful leader can make informed decisions, foster a positive work culture, and drive organisations toward sustained growth and success.
If you want to dive deeper into leadership and explore different management styles, check out another article: Understanding Management Styles: A Guide to Effective Leadership.
The big seven are: visionary thinking, strategic planning, emotional intelligence, adaptability, conflict resolution, delegation, and ethical leadership. Together, they help leaders drive innovation, build trust, and keep the company strong.
It’s definitely a skill — not just a “you’re born with it” thing. You can learn and improve it: plan strategically, understand people better, delegate wisely, and make solid decisions.
Without vision, a leader just ends up firefighting. Visionary thinking means spotting trends early, setting bold goals, and inspiring the team to innovate.
When leaders understand their own emotions and others’, they build trust, lower tension, and keep the team motivated.
Because business reality changes every minute. Flexible leaders can pivot fast, stay focused, and keep the team calm under pressure.
It’s all about trust. When leaders are transparent, fair, and consistent, people believe in the company and give their best.
