Boyden and PROPHET Profiling Discover CEOs Dramatically

New York, London, Oct. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Boyden, a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 75 offices in over 45 countries, and PROPHET Profiling, a leader in the profiling of senior teams and organisations, share data revealing 75 percent of CEOs show a strong preference for Influencing others, 30 times[1] greater than the percentage showing a strong preference for Order & Detail.

Research was conducted among 300 CEOs worldwide, capturing leadership preferences across Influence, Order & Detail and Systematic working. CEOs have a statistically-significant lower preference in the latter two areas, compared with other C-suite leaders and the executive population, totalling nearly 12,800 in the research.

“Previous career trajectories for CEOs have highlighted a detail-oriented, often ‘quantitative’ background,” comments Trina D. Gordon, President & CEO of Boyden. “The data show today’s CEOs prefer to lead through influence, as ‘off the page’ people leaders with a more ‘qualitative’ approach, rather than being driven by detail, order and consistency”.

The data show CEOs typically share optimism and empathy, ‘influencing and persuading others’ and ‘generating motivation towards a goal’. While 75 percent show a preference for Influence, only 2.3 percent show a strong preference for Order & Detail, specifically ‘being careful,’ ‘organised’ and ‘rigorous’; 7.5 percent show a strong preference for ‘Systematic’ working, namely ‘working in a structured and planned fashion’.

CEOs profiled indicate that they tend to start out with great zeal when formulating vision and strategy; but many tended to be far less motivated by organisational status quo and operational detail. Strong and senior-level team members responsible for implementation are critical to CEOs, and must be granted tactical freedom to deliver the vision.

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