What do companies look for while hiring CEO’s? Statistics from the top recruiters in India tell us-70% of organizations in India were looking for a CEO who is humble, has a high EQ with good people skills. This was clearly called out when they received the hiring mandate from their clients. I read an article a while ago where a senior executive being considered for the position of a CEO was turned down because he was extremely rude to the driver that had come to pick him up for the job interview. The prospective CEO was running late and passed his anxiety and frustration onto the driver who had come to pick him up.

Several companies may overlook senior leaders riding roughshod over the emotions of team members, however we see this trend changing. Slowly but surely, the value of control over one’s emotions, demonstrating emotional intelligence and being empathetic are slowly competencies that people hire for.

Way back in 2008, when ShradhaHRD was conducting an intervention on Conducting appraisals for a Global Bank, it was interesting that the only thing that managers scored their team members on were hard skills. Even though there was a detailed matrix describing expected behaviors to be demonstrated, these were largely overlooked. Less than an hour in an entire year was spent talking about these competencies!!!!!!!!

Thankfully change , ushered in by the growing Millennial population in the workforce and other factors has brought emotional intelligence to the forefront.

A million dollar rescue machine or “semi-skilled” resources? Most of us would choose the first option for a rescue mission. The rescue of 41 miners by “rat miners” turns conventional wisdom on its head. The learnings are immense:

We often need a multi-pronged approach, that will get the job done. The heavy duty technology, created the path; manpower with relevant skills completed the job.

The rescue effort was a multi-agency collaboration-National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Indian Army, local authorities, experts most notably, Chris Cooper (Micro-tunnelling expert), Tunnelling expert Arnold Dix, Retired Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain. Completely different approaches, yet worked together to achieve success.

In an effort that took over 24 hours, the miners worked in two teams of three each, with one person drilling, the second collecting the debris and the third pushing it out of the pipe. It was boiling hot and there were no special suits for protection. Yet the teams worked non-stop till the miners were rescued. Ownership of the task, without considering personal benefits.

A fantastic example of leadership, collaboration and working with a solutions mindset, to achieve a difficult goal.