The economic and political uncertainty of recent years has had a major impact on the skills and qualities to be met by successful European leaders. That is at least according to the study by the Korn/Ferry International recruitment agency titled New European Executive which is based on more than a hundred interviews with European senior managers within five years. According to the study, the new European executive who should be able to boost and sustain growth should be more visionary, more driven by competences and expertise, more flexible and adaptable to rapid changes, more flexible and more strategic-thinking than before the crisis.
The most important characteristic of the new European executive in 2012 was the ability to deal with ambiguities, which had not reached the top ten most important characteristics before the crisis. The ability to drive vision and purpose - to define success in a sluggish economy and a way to communicate it with shareholders - was ranked the third. It had not get into the top ten before the crisis either.
Changes in the ranking of the importance of executive competencies in Europe
(Source: Korn/Ferry International: New European Executive)
| Rank | Before the crisis (2007-2008) | Rank | After the crisis (2012) |
| 1. | Customer Focus | 1. | Dealing with Ambiguity |
| 2. | Drive for Results | 2. | Customer Focus |
| 3. | Motivating Others | 3. | Manage Vision and Purpose |
| 4. | Priority Setting | 4. | Strategic Agility |
| 5. | Problem Solving | 5. | Managerial Courage |
| 6. | Timely Decision Making | 6. | Perspective |
| 7. | Strategic Agility | 7. | Priority Setting |
| 8. | Organizing | 8. | Motivating Others |
| 9. | Command Skills | 9. | Drive for Results |
| 10. | Business Acumen | 10. | Listening |
The entire study is available for download on the Korn/Ferry International website here.
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