| Re: Can a HR Head become the CEO? Dear all,
I am really happy to learn through our friends that some HR Heads have turned out to be CEOs in our country; so we have local examples to give. Thanks to all of them. Prof.Lakshman’s contribution to the discussion is really excellent. My sincere thanks to him.
Subsequent to the responses, I was really wondering what it takes for the HR Manager to hold the office of the CEO eventually. How can he climb on this special ladder? Does HR as a management function have the potential to prepare its incumbents for reaching the CEO position and performing the CEO job successfully?
For the HR Manager ambitious about becoming the CEO, is it necessary that he has to sit and learn the other management functions – finance, marketing, operations, etc.?
Has the HR job he has been doing for years provided him already the insight so he can naturally learn the principles lying behind the other management functions, then grasp more on the subjects?
Does he need to gain some expertise in all the management functions?
I was reading a posting in CiteSales on ’22 Laws of Marketing’ hoping to learn some basic marketing ideas.
What I find is that these laws are not different to HR management situations in their principles. Basically they would be equally valid for HR management, though they are written for marketing. You think of recruitment, salary negotiation, negotiation with unions, outsourcing suppliers, managing the relations with line managers, boss, subordinates, training, or any aspect of HRM for that matter. You can very well derive guideline from one of these 22 laws.
So, it is not sharpening your knowledge in other areas, it is not coming out of the people perspective and wearing the business perspective, it is not changing your management style and attitude for CEO position and it is not about drastic changes that one may think he needs to bring in his personal management style/system for achieving this objective. I would say you need to improve your people perspective when you become the CEO or want to become one.
In fact, the HR management function when you dedicate yourself to this has all the potential to naturally prepare you for the CEO position and gain the business acumen you need for doing this job.
Recently I was reading the book ‘ How to think like a CEO – The 22 vital traits You Need to be the Person at the Top’ by D.A. Benton. (22 laws of marketing and 22 traits required to become the CEO – is 22 a wonder number I do not know.)
The author has prescribed the following 22 traits that you need for becoming the CEO –
I. APPROACHING THE CLIMB:
1.SECURE IN SELF
2.IN CONTROL OF ATTITUDE
3.TENACIUOS
4.CONTINUOYSLY IMPROVING
5.HONEST & ETHICAL
6.THINKING BEFORE TALKING
7.ORIGINAL
8.PUBLICLY MODEST
II.PUTTING INTO PRACTICE:
9.AWARE OF STYLE
10.GUTSY / LITTLE WILD
11.HUMOUROUS
12.A TAD THEORITICAL
13.DETAIL ORIENTED
III.BRIDGING THE GAP:
14.GOOD AT THEIR JOB AND WILLING TO LEAD
15.FIGHTER FOR THEIR PEOPLE
16.WILLING TO ADMIT MISTAKES, YET ARE UNAPOLOGETIC
17.STRAIGHTFORWARD
18.NICE
19.INQUISITIVE
20.COMPETITIVE
21.FLEXIBLE
22.GOOD STORY TELLERS
Dear friends, I emphasize that HR has all the potential to naturally prepare one to acquire / develop the above traits more than any other management function. If HR cannot prepare its incumbents for the Company Head position, no other function can do that, in my opinion.
Your views, please.
Jeevan  | 
may be in a small company
