Today's CEOs must be better communicators than in years past and have a better grasp of big data, headhunter says

The modern CEO has to be able to "connect all the dots" in an ever more complex business environment, says George Huang.

The 47-year-old partner-in-charge in the Beijing office of worldwide executive search consultancy Heidrick & Struggles is one of China's top headhunters.

"You are now working in a business environment where the traditional boundaries between sectors is disappearing. It is not unthinkable that Google will make cars in the future," he says.

"When you are recruiting a CEO, it is not just about picking the best guy or woman in whatever sector the role happens to be. The modern CEO has actually got to be able to cut through these traditional business sector walls and connect all the dots."

Huang was speaking at his offices at the Kerry Center in the Chinese capital's central business district, after the publication of Heidrick & Struggles research, The CEO Report: Embracing the Paradoxes of Leadership and the Power of Doubt, which looks at the changing role of chief executives.

The report, which included interviews with CEOs operating in China, found that modern CEOs have to deal with an increasingly fast-moving business environment, be better communicators than any previous generation of bosses and also be able to handle a lot more data.

"Data is actually the big thing nowadays. A lot of decisions are made on data these days and that is why you see this big trend with big data and analysis.

"In the past if a company was looking for a global chief marketing officer, for example, the job specification would all be about branding, internal and external communications and how to manage an advertising campaign. Now it is mostly whether they have online experience and have the technical ability to analyze data."

Huang has recruited CEOs for some of China's leading companies, both private and state-owned, as well as multinationals operating in China.

Because he deals with high-level appointments, part of his job is to personally get to know senior executives.

"I phone them up and arrange to meet them for coffee and discuss perhaps where they are in their careers and their current thoughts. I would never suggest a position to someone if I thought it wasn't right for them. It is important to me to have a large network of people. My job is not about going through CVs. I have to personally know people."

Huang is not convinced that the personality type who becomes a CEO today is that far removed from that of 20 years ago.

"I think all good CEOs have the same qualities. Even in the old days you always had to have someone who had the skills to learn new things. Today's business environment is very different though because of the speed of change and the pace of change here has to be one of the fastest in the world."

Huang says many people have a mistaken impression of the CEOs of China's state-owned enterprises with whom he has done a lot of work with.

"They are certainly not backward or living in the past. They are often very well-rounded people. If you get to the top in one of these organizations, there is an awful lot of people you have got to climb over so you have to be extremely competitive.

"They spend a lot of time navigating internal politics and also have to have an understanding of government policy and where it is going. Unlike Western multinational companies, their goals are not all about delivering financial performance which can make the role much more complex."

He says the CEOs of China's privately-owned enterprises also have their own characteristics.

"The larger ones have management that is extremely ambitious and willingness to take a lot of risks to establish a global position. They want to be global companies."

Huang, who took up his current position last year, was born in Shanghai but was brought up in New York after his mother emigrated there and set up a Dunkin' Donuts franchise.

He went on to study electrical engineering at the University of Michigan and began his career in the wireless communications sector.

He eventually joined US telecom giant Nortel, where he ran its operations in Tel Aviv and then in Brazil, where he was account general manager for its north Caribbean and Latin American operations.

He returned to China in 2001 as managing director, Greater China, and then when Nortel filed for bankruptcy moved to another telecom company, Airvana.

In 2010, Huang - who did postgraduate studies in entrepreneurship and management at Stanford University and received an EMBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University - was approached by now rival recruitment consultancy Russell Reynolds Associates to head its technology practice.

"I wasn't sure I would be a good recruiter, to be honest, but I was interested in people development. I had studied management and had read a lot about CEO leadership and the different styles of leadership required at different times."

Last year, he moved to Heidrick & Struggles to head up its China operation and was involved in the research of the CEO report.

"We did some work with the team in the UK and they interviewed one or two CEOs in both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong," he says.

Huang believes it will be increasingly irrelevant to look for big differences between Chinese and foreign CEOs.

"CEOs have to be a lot more global. In the past you may have had a US company, where 90 or even 100 percent of its revenue came from the States. Now it is likely to be 50 percent US and the rest worldwide. So the business model has to be a lot more international."

Huang says there is a big demand now from multinationals for non-executives with China or Asian experience so they can better understand how to access these markets.

"It is not always easy to find such people. The global company will probably have revenues of $50 billion and sometimes the criteria is for someone running a company of similar size in, say, China. The problem is that these sort of people are busy and not generally interested in such positions.

"Someone who is a China head or a regional CEO and responsible for just $4 billion of revenues does not quite have the same experience. A lot of China heads are often sales and marketing guys. They are often not responsible for manufacturing, research and development and the supply chain, which are often headquarters' responsibilities."

Huang says he finds it refreshing that a lot of modern Chinese CEOs are well aware of their own weaknesses.

"They are often extremely hard working and ambitious. They also travel a lot and are willing to try out new ideas.

"One thing you also can't accuse them of is not being self-aware. You see that at discussions held at the Chinese Davos at Tianjin and elsewhere. They know some of the skill sets they are missing, that they are often with companies at the early stages of globalization and lack international experience but they are willing to learn."

He also says among Chinese CEOs there is more of a hero culture surrounding the likes of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Apple founder Steve Jobs and Jack Ma, who heads Alibaba, the Chinese Internet giant, than you would find with their European or US counterparts.

"Everyone wants to go from zero to very big. It is that desire and ambition that drives a lot of personal growth. Everyone in China wants to be Steve Jobs or Jack Ma."

Huang says when it comes to hiring CEOs in China it is becoming increasingly irrelevant whether the right candidate is Western or Chinese.

"You are looking to meet the needs of a client. A multinational might be looking for someone who is Chinese and knows the business culture. A Chinese company, however, might equally decide to go for a Westerner if he or she speaks Chinese or in some cases where language skills is not a stipulation."

Huang's ultimate responsibility is to provide companies with a shortlist of candidates from which their boards can choose.

"We give our opinions but it is up to them to choose who they want. Whoever they choose, we are confident they will do a good job. There may be someone, however, on that list who will transform their business."

andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn

( China Daily European Weekly 04/10/2015 page8)