Skills CEOs, CFOs & CIOs Need To Lead Companies Out of Recession

Chief executive officers will have to sharpen their ability to communicate purpose and mission to all employees in order to lead their organizations out of the recession, according to a survey of 164 businesses by Suzanne Bates, author of “Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!” (McGraw-Hill 2009) http://bit.ly/KbZBD.

Communication with employees is rated the No. 1 area that C-suite executives need to improve, followed by communicating with customers, the survey found.

Strategic thinking is the top skill that both chief financial officers and chief information officers should hone in order to lead their companies post-recession, according to the survey. Strategic thinking is ranked as the second greatest development need for CEOs.

The ability to communicate the organization’s purpose and mission to employees is ranked as one of the top 4 skills that CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs need to develop in order to effectively lead their businesses out of the recession.

Both CFOs and CIOs require work on communicating with other C-level executives, and moving from the tactical to the strategic, in order to effectively lead post-recession, according to the survey.
“Prior to the recession, our research showed that employees need to hear more from their CEOs. However, a disturbing trend is that many CEOs today are communicating less – not more,” said Bates, president and CEO of Bates Communications (www.bates-communications.com).

“However, communicating purpose and mission to employees, and connecting people to a shared purpose, are not only the job of CEOs. Other C-level executives, including CFOs and CIOs, must do their part to motivate and inspire employees to lead their organizations out of the recession,” Bates added.

“Motivating and engaging employees are a crucial way that CFOs and CIOs can progress from the tactical to the strategic – a top skill development requirement pointed out by the survey. Improved communication with other senior-level executives is also critical to thinking strategically,” Bates said.

The top skills that Chief Executive Officers today most need to develop in order to lead their organizations out of the recession are:
Communicating purpose & mission to all employees (66% of respondents)
Strategic thinking (62%)
Connecting people to a shared purpose (59%)
Engaging employees (58%)
Motivating employees (56%)
Vision (54%)
Moving from tactical to strategic (43%)
Decisiveness (35%)


The top skills that Chief Financial Officers today most need to develop in order to lead their organizations out of the recession are:
Strategic thinking (69%)
Decisiveness (57%)
Communicating with other C-level executives (54%)
Communicating purpose & mission to all employees (49%)
Moving from tactical to strategic (47%)
Vision (45%)
Connecting people to a shared purpose (37%)
Engaging employees (31%)
Avoiding technical jargon (30%)
Motivating employees (27%)


The top skills that Chief Information Officers today most need to develop in order to lead their organizations out of the recession are:
Strategic thinking (74%)
Decisiveness (53%)
Moving from tactical to strategic (52%)
Communicating purpose & mission to all employees (50%)
Vision (44%)
Communicating with other C-level executives (42%)
Connecting people to a shared purpose (37%)
Engaging employees (34%)
Motivating employees (31%)
Avoiding technical jargon (27%)

The top skill development needs of C-level executives are:
Communication with employees (59%)
Communication with customers (58%)
Presentation skills (52%)
Thought leadership (46%)
Executive presence (41%)

About ’Motivate Like a CEO’

Suzanne Bates is the author of “Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!,” published by McGraw-Hill in January 2009, which became #1 best-seller in books on communication skills on amazon.com. She is also the author of the business best-seller “Speak Like a CEO, Secrets to Commanding Attention and Getting Results” (McGraw Hill 2005). She is President and CEO of Bates Communications Inc. www.bates-communications.com and blogs at www.thepowerspeakerblog.com

Contact Information

Sal Vittolino

PR consultant

public relations consulting

Contact via E-mail