Jason Buechel grew up in Wisconsin, where his father was a cheesemaker, and his maternal grandparents owned a dairy farm. When I asked the now-Whole Foods’ CEO last month whether he deliberately charted a path to the corner office, his response was immediate. “Absolutely not,” he chuckled.
It's a sentiment echoed by many C-suite executives, including those who didn’t follow a traditional path to the top. Instead of meticulously planning their ascent, they attribute their success to excelling in each role they undertook.
It stands to reason, then, that Heidrick & Struggles' CEO Tom Monahan says companies are wary of people who myopically aspire to be CEOs.
“I think boards and CEOs are inherently skeptical of someone who so desperately wants to be a CEO that they define what they want to be as wanting to be a CEO,” he tells me. That assessment might sound counterintuitive. After all, wouldn’t a board seek an individual who wants to be a leader, sees themself in the corner office, and is in pursuit of a lofty goal?
Monahan stresses that while companies value self-assured leaders, it's equally important that CEOs can reflect and engage in honest dialogues about their strengths and weaknesses. This self-awareness, coupled with building a team to complement areas of deficiency, is a crucial aspect of the CEO role.
“Someone who is so hell-bent on being a CEO at all costs can sometimes ignore what other people have to give, their own weaknesses, and their blind spots,” says Monahan.
He adds that there are hugely capable professionals who express ambition subtly due to their upbringing, cultural background, or identity. In fact, Monahan says some of the most exceptional leaders he’s worked with needed to be told they were on the path to the C-suite.
“They didn’t wake up every day saying, ‘I want to be a CEO.' They woke up every day saying, ‘I want my team to succeed in accomplishing this next important thing,'” he says. “It turns out that's a really good predictive indicator of who's going to be a great CEO.”
Those with an eye to the corner office should bring a balanced approach to ambition and shift their focus to developing essential competencies in their current role, says Monahan. He flags three in particular:
1. They should be creative and thoughtful about using technology as a strategic lever.
2. They should be able to show evidence that they can learn, adapt, and grow.
3. They should have strong listening and communication skills to create an organization that's goal-aligned.
“Boards want to see the best potential leaders, not only those who self-diagnose as the best potential leaders,” says Monahan, noting that while the two can intersect, “it's not a total eclipse of the moon.”
Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com
