FIVE TRAITS THAT A MAJORITY OF CEO’S SHARE

Want to know what it takes to be CEO? The data is in, most CEOs all have these 5 traits in common. Find out what they all share here!

CNBC shares…

What makes these CEOs tick, and how did they climb the ladder to the top in the first place? We’ve pieced together a theoretical sketch of the perfect CEO from various studies.

Name

What’s in a name? For CEOs quite a bit, especially if they are named Peter or Deborah. Research by professional networking website LinkedIn found that those names are the top names for CEOs. Additional research also found that for those workers who one day dream of becoming a CEO, having a simple and easy to pronounce name made them more likely to be favored for a promotion.

“Typically hypocrisms, the shorter form of a given name, are used in intimate situations as a nickname or a term of endearment,” study researcher Frank Nuessel, a professor of classical and modern languages at the University of Louisville, said. “It’s possible that sales professionals in the United States and male CEOs around the world use these shortened versions of their name as a way to be more approachable and accessible to potential clients.”

Face

The shape of a person’s face can also affect how they are regarded at work. Research conducted by Elaine Wong and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee came to this conclusion by studying the faces of 55 CEOs from Fortune 500 companies. Their findings were that leaders with faces that were wider relative to their length led more successful companies than executives with longer faces. One example of the research being proved true was wide-faced Herb Kelleher, the successful CEO of Southwest Airlines[LUV 8.86        ], and long-faced Dick Fuld, who presided over the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers.

“In our sample, the CEOs with the higher facial ratios actually achieved significantly greater firm financial performance than CEOs with the lower facial ratios,” Wong said.

Height

Height can be another big factor in a person’s success, research has found. In particular, a person’s height can help to improve both their income, by almost $1,000 a year, and their likelihood of getting a promotion. The magic height, research found, was six feet and above. In addition to earning more, taller people are seen as better leaders because of their size, the research found.

“Tall people tend to act like a leader from a very young age because other children relate to them like a slightly older peer,” said Arianne Cohen, author of “The Tall Book” (Bloomsbury USA, June 2009). “In the workplace, when you’re automatically acting as a leader, that’s really important when it comes time for promotion.”

Ego

A strong ego does not necessarily make a strong leader. Bosses should instead have a mild-mannered disposition because strong-willed bosses are just as likely to run a successful business as they are to run it into the ground. The one caveat to this research, published in the Journal of Management Studies, came when strong-willed bosses were met with a board that was equally strong-willed. This combination helped to check the power and ego of the CEO.

“A strong board provides a useful watchdog and a second set of valued opinions to the strategic direction of the company. This oversight by the board can help catch the deviant strategy that could lead to firm failure, before it is implemented by the CEO and the organization’s top management team,” the article said.

Personality

It turns out it really is lonely at the top, at least for CEOs. Research conducted by management consulting firm RHR International found that half of the 83 CEOs polled said that being CEO brought with it feelings of isolation that were a hindrance to their performance. The research also found that CEOs had different expectations for the job than the ones they encountered when they were promoted.

“This is not uncommon,” said Thomas Saporito, chairman and CEO at RHR International. “Stress, pressure and loneliness all combine to create a job unlike any other they have previously had.”

For that reason, anyone looking to be the boss better be able to deal with the isolation that the title brings with it.

Get the entire article at CNBC!