The Making of the British CEO: Childhood, Work Experience, Personality, and Management Style

The purpose of the research described here was to find out more about the personality, background, and characteristics of successful managers. We were particularly interested in managers' psychological attributes and developmental influences, rather than in the roles they play and how they spend their time, which has been the focus of so many other studies; we wanted to know more about what they were like as people. Any discussion of successful managers inevitably raises the question of defining "success." We have avoided this issue by defining a successful manager as one who reaches the top of a major organization. Therefore, the conclusions outlined here are based on interviews with 45 chief executives of British companies with over 1,000 employees and a successful financial record. The interviews were semistructu red and explored such aspects of the executives' lives as family background and childhood, education, career pattern, motivation, and personality.