| The mark of a good leader may lie in his or her ability to be honest and upstanding, a new survey suggests. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of chief financial officers (CFOs) polled said the more important quality for a business leader to possess is integrity. Experience and communication skills followed each receiving 27 percent of the response.
The survey was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.
CFOs were asked, “Which of the following qualities do you feel is most important in business leaders today?” Their responses:
- Integrity —31 percent
- Experience — 27 percent
- Communication skills — 27 percent
- Technical or functional expertise — 11 percent
- Other — 2 percent
- Don’t know / no answer — 2 percent
History has shown the importance of integrity in all aspects of business, from managing assets to managing people. Corporate scandals of the recent past have underscored the need for sound corporate governance practices and transparency in financial reporting. Financial executives must be able to translate complex concepts into terms other audiences, from investors and board members to employees and the general public, can understand.
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