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1. What are the most important characteristics of a CEO?

A CEO (Chief Executive Officer) holds the highest rank position in a corporation or

company. It can be of any establishments such as private and public sectors, governmental and

non-governmental organizations. They are responsible to lead the company or organization by

maximizing the market and share price. They are expected to be smart and great source of

business ideas (Kenton, 2019). In-order to achieve the optimum success, a CEO should have

these good characteristics. He should have the confidence to run a business and convince people

that the proposal has a brighter road ahead, to persuade them that the path is viable and exciting.

This confidence should be partnered with humility. A CEO should know when to admit a

mistake and the quicker he can change the course, the better for the business (Lifshitz, 2017).

Second is the behavioral integrity that a CEO should have. This is usually the foundation of trust.

If a CEO has a word of honor then more likely, he is capable to do the task efficiently. The

members and shareholders will not question his capabilities but support him all the way. It is

actually the congruence between words and deeds (Steffen, 2019). Third are the information

gathering, communication skills, and collaboration. The CEO should know and understand the

function of the business, whether it’s about accounting, marketing, HR, operations, legal, sales,

and supply chain, this will help him to adapt proactively. If he has the knowledge of every part of

the business then his communication skills will be enhanced and collaborating ideas from the

members or shareholders are easier for him (Forbes Coaches Council, 2017). Then he is probably

a risk-averseness too because he is aware of what possibility may be brought upon if he opts to

risk more. Generally, the CEO increases the cash holdings or shareholdings to protect the

company from bankruptcy (Feng & Rao, 2018). This will help to minimize the risk incentives

component of the CEO compensation and prevent the bondholder-shareholder conflicts.

2. What are the most important characteristics for Executive Directors on the board?

Executive Director is the second highest position in the company or organization. It has

the same responsibilities as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) but handles more in a strategic

planning with the Board of Directors and operates within a budget (Downey, 2020). An effective

Executive Director should possess excellent communication skills. If they are well-versed

communicators, they can easily tailor messages according to the type of audiences on the

platform. They will encourage those members to participate in the discussion, open-minded to

any ideas, and armed with facts to possible inquiries or questions. The second characteristic

should have effective recruiting skills with competent people. Attracting the best people to join

you in the company is difficult and a little complicated. The Executive director should have great

integrity skills first to stabilize the policies. Once the integrity skill is high enough, they can

easily create a vision that people can possibly believe in. Then, recruiting starts with an

encouraging environment and eventually boost the morale while draws attention to interested

applicants. Actually, the Executive Director visualizes the mission on a long-term basis. They

have specific goals and realistic timeline. They keep the mission on the track and timely check

the vision by having an open conversation with the members. This will prevent a possible

problem and unrealistic expectations in the future (Miller, 2019). The fourth characteristic and

the most important one is the self-presentation. This type of characteristic is useful to build up a

good professional image. It will boost the confidence and create a positive attitude towards work.

This will also helpful in expanding the networks and convincing other people is much easier

(O'Neill, 2018).
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3. What are the most important characteristics for non-executive directors in the supervision

board?

A Non-Executive Director in the supervision board is not responsible to handle daily

management duty in the company but usually involves governance and supervision. They

oversight and set the policies for corporate management. They are generally known as the

Boards of Directors (Chen, 2019). The board of directors has complex responsibilities both

external and internal role. The two areas of responsibilities can usually create pressures on

boards and members, thus good characteristics are required to beat the odds. The first

characteristic that board of directors should have is the integrity. This is not just the congruency

between words and deeds but also, the transparency and avoids misleading facts to others. The

integrity of every board member should be on high esteem as possible so the stakeholders will

have the confidence to trust in the organization or company. The second characteristic is the

‘professional independence’ or usually termed as focus objectivity. They should have this type of

characteristic in-order to prevent their business judgment from being influence by other parties.

This is very important especially when dealing a conflict matter between a CEO and the

company. The board of directors should be open-minded and listens to both sides of the story,

without any bias before making a decision based on the facts presented before the board. The

third characteristic is professional competence. It is the basic qualification that a board of

directors should have in an organization. The board member should have the knowledge and

skills to handle a particular board matter. They should have a balanced experience, independence

to weigh facts, and appropriate skills to enable them to do their task effectively. However, the

professional and academic qualifications are sometimes more preferred in a corporation in

technical competence. These are usually useful in handling legal matters and creating a

regulatory framework (Wanyama, 2016).

4. How do these characteristics of the CEO, Executive Directors, and Non-Executive Directors

interact most efficiently within the whole board?

Confidence and authority are already given characteristics of any high positions but the

most important among those that have been mentioned above are the collaboration, listening

ability, oversight, and information gathering. These characteristics are required for certain

positions to get a superior result in the end. We take the oversight and listening ability of the

board of directors for instance, if the board of directors mastered these skills, then their judgment

over a business matter is not questionable. This could lead to a smooth and effective vision of

missions in the process. The rest of the members will have no issues about trust and credibility

because everything is transparent and the decision is made based on the presented facts.

However, if a conflict arises, the board of directors can easily explain them by providing them

the supporting facts of previous meetings or open a discussion to respond to the conflicts. The

second characteristic that will be considered as one of the essential elements of an effective

CEO-board relationship is the information gathering and collaboration of ideas with the

executive directors. If the CEO is knowledgeable on every part of the business such as legalities,

marketing, management, accounting, human resource, and supply chain, then there is no reason

for him to not easily, engage in collaboration. He can proactively participate and interacts with

his executive directors about any business matters. Apart from interaction, he can also weigh

quickly the best opportunities for the business using the information that he gathered from his

directors. If in case the first option is not viable then he could still have the second option as back

up.
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References

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2020, from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/boardofdirectors.asp

Downey, L. (2020, February 16). Investopedia: Terms: Executive Director. Retrieved May 27,
2020, from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/executive-director.asp

Feng, H., & Rao, R. (2018, November). Science Direct: Article. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from
Science Direct:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1057521918306689

Forbes Coaches Council. (2017, December 29). Forbes Coaches Council: Leadership . Retrieved
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/12/29/if-you-want-to-be-ceo-
material-develop-these-15-traits/#c0bb24ed3ff1

Kenton, W. (2019, August 18). Investopedia:CEOS. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from Investopedia:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/ceo.asp

Lifshitz, E. (2017, June 23). Entrepreneur Asia Pacific: Leadership. Retrieved May 27, 2020,
from Enrepreneur: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296125

Miller, N. (2019, February). Manpower Envision: Blog. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from
Manpower Envision: https://blog.mpowr.com/7-qualities-of-an-effective-nonprofit-
executive-director

O'Neill, E. (2018, June 14). ICAS: Blog:Professional Development. Retrieved May 27, 2020,
from ICAS: https://www.icas.com/members/professional-development/five-top-qualities-
of-an-executive-director

Steffen, T. (2019, May 24). Yale Insights: Leadership. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from Yale
Insights: https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/for-ceos-integrity-is-the-best-policy

Wanyama, S. (2016, August). Researchgate:Publication: Characterisitics of Effective Board