Four business leaders have been identified who over the last decade have transformed their companies from being small, unorganized players to market leadership. These CEOs share one-character trait in common. They were all athletes during their formative years. This athletic endurance has shaped their perspective on several matters. The four profiled are Herman Gref from Sberbank, Alexander Dykov of Gazprom Neft, Vitaly Saveliev from Aeroflot and Eugene Kaspersky, associated with Kaspersky Lab. The athletic mindset allows for three fundamental qualities, common to these three. One was their formative experience that bestowed them with a self-confidence and winning mentality. The second quality highlighted in the book Athletic CEOs: Leadership in Turbulent Times, is mental toughness. As all four of them had met with several tough challenges during their sporting careers, they refused to get bogged down under any situation as CEO. They have also honed the ability to keep their emotions under check to keep their cool required for sound decision-making. Another quality is mental adaptability, or the ability to mend their ways according to the situational demand. This allowed business innovations to flourish at their organizations such as Aeroflot’s Saturday School or Sberbank’s Lean Production.

Source:https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/turbulent-times-call-for-athletic-leaders-8026

Uploaded Date:18 January 2018