The article, “Tough CEOs Often Most Successful, A Study Finds“, was published in the WSJ.com last week. The research conducted by three University of Chicago business-school professors highlights that the ‘hard’ skills count more than ’soft’ skills when it comes to success.

In this research, hard skills refers to traits that “get things done”: persistence, efficiency, analytical thinking and setting high standards. Soft skills, on the other hand, include teamwork, creativity, persuasion, listening skills, enthusiasm and treating people with respect.

I have been chewing on these findings, and frankly I find the results conflict with my experience. I have found that innovation and technology management revolves around people: whether it is about motivating your team or pushing the diffusion/adoption of your new innovation and technology. Yes, to be successful one does need the hard skills mentioned here. However, I don’t believe it is possible to be successful nor establish a sustainable success without the soft skills, which are downplayed in the study.

Here are some highlights from my other postings on innovation and the need for soft skills.

• Innovation requires both sides of your brain — You can’t just be creative, but also need to be analytical to successfully exploit the opportunity. Think out of the box, look for connections even seemingly unrelated, be open to and seek new experiences and ideas, be observative and keenly inquisitive. Know that the future is unwritten and full of opportunities. Be positive, hopeful and optimistic, regardless of the current situation. But, while dreaming big, start small, simple and with focus. Iteratively build on your previous successes, and create your future one step at a time.
• Strategy and its execution requires ownership at all levels — This means everyone, from the CEO on down. Executive leadership must embed strategy in the organization: from its people, to its processes, to its culture and values. Any strategy, however brilliant, will fail unless people are emotionally committed to its success. In order to achieve unwavering commitment, people need to be involved in the strategy process early, they need to understand and believe in the strategy, and they need to feel included. The organization’s culture, values, incentives, people, structure and processes all contribute to how the existing internal environment will support its strategy.
• Innovation is change — In this case, change applies to all aspect of innovation process, not just the final output. Innovation is ambiguous and requires failures to achieve success. Innovation is also a change in behavior of customers, in how they work and produce something. Yet, market adoption and acceptance is a complex process where one rarely has the power to control or dictate.
• Innovation starts with people — Innovations do not occur by themselves: they are generated and sustained through the efforts of individuals and people. Creativity, commitment and persistence drives the innovation process. How well an organization cultivates and nurtures the creativity, knowledge creation and invention process plays into their innovation capability. Yet, it is important to note that these are necessary but not sufficient conditions for successful innovation; but they do make up the foundation that innovations are built upon.
• Your organizational culture is linked to your firm’s success — Various studies and surveys indicate the link between organizational culture and firm’s success. Denison Consulting’s 2006 study links high performance in key areas of the organizational culture (adaptability, consistency, mission and involvement) to long-term financial performance and short-term sales growth.

Innovation and top line growth is a concern for today’s CEOs. Yet at the same time, many will admit that only a small percentage of their innovative ideas, products and technologies are getting commercialized. Maybe this should not come as such a surprise, given that these CEOs are focusing on hard skills. Maybe even the successful CEOs are missing the crucial aspect of what it takes to innovate and drive innovation in their firms, limiting their true potential. Perhaps a follow on study should be made which compares/contrasts the successful and innovative CEOs in areas of character traits and skills. What do you think?

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