From what I've heard, getting the attributes right is hard. You need stuff like: - Honesty. Obvious, but I'd expect it gets quite hard to find at the CEO leve

From what I've heard, getting the attributes right is hard. You need stuff like: - Honesty. Obvious, but I'd expect it gets quite hard to find at the CEO level. - Frugality. Some great CEOs are legendary tightwads. - Not penny-wise, pound foolish. Because even if you are a tightwad, you shouldn't kill moral or R&D. 90% of a CEO's job will be knowing what expenses to approve, and what expenses to knock back. - Deep knowledge of the organization, its environment, and its processes. Otherwise, they will not be able to verify when their C-execs are screwing with them. - Commitment to improving operational effectiveness. Low level engineers are great firefighters. It's the guys who can keep improving the small stuff that are really worth the big bucks.