People often wonder what it takes to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Of course, these CEOs need to be smart, and many boast an Ivy League education and other post-graduate degrees. Others, such as Mark Zuckerberg, manage to drop out of school and still become the CEO of Meta, one of the most celebrated American tech companies.
So clearly, most CEOs have other characteristics that go far beyond a diploma. According to a study by Preply that analyzed the dialogue of over 100 American CEOs, top CEOs are leaders who can communicate with their stakeholders, employees, and consumers. Without being able to emotionally connect with people and focus on their customers, these CEOs would never have made it to the top.
The Most Intelligent CEOs
Managing massive businesses requires a specific skill set. For many of these companies, intelligence is an important aspect of being a leader, and the best leaders are those who can communicate that intelligence through their use of language. To measure this, a study done by Preply analyzed the language used by men and women at the forefront of their industries. Researchers looked for indicators like sentence sophistication and critical thinking skills to make their judgments.
Coming in first is Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, followed by Jim Taiclet of Lockheed Martin and Demis Hassabis of DeepMind. These three CEOs scored the highest out of 25 CEOs, meaning that they tend to communicate intelligently. Whether it’s through the clarity of their sentences or the specific word choices they make, these CEOs have what it takes to communicate their vision to their company and employees, leading their business to success.
| Name (Company) | Score |
|---|---|
| Jensen Huang (NVIDIA) | 81.25 |
| Jim Taiclet (Lockheed Martin) | 80.87 |
| Demis Hassabis (DeepMind) | 80.77 |
| Vincent Roche (Analog Devices) | 80.6 |
| Matt Murphy (Marvell Technology Group) | 78.43 |
| Reed Hastings (Netflix) | 77.33 |
| Joseph Dominguez (Constellation Energy) | 76.7 |
| Stephen A. Schwarzman (Blackstone Group) | 76.37 |
| Robert B. Ford (Abbott Laboratories) | 76.1 |
| Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz) | 75.5 |
| Patrick Collison (Stripe) | 75.43 |
| Sam Altman (OpenAI) | 75.17 |
| Shantanu Narayen (Adobe) | 75.17 |
| Robert A. Bradway (Amgen) | 74.37 |
| Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase) | 74.25 |
| Satya Nadella (Microsoft) | 74.17 |
| Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron Technology) | 74 |
| Elon Musk (Tesla) | 73.83 |
| Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) | 73.83 |
| Daniel O'Day (Gilead Sciences) | 73.5 |
| Arvind Krishna (IBM) | 73.5 |
| Reshma Kewalramani (Vertex Pharmaceuticals) | 73.27 |
| Greg Peters (Netflix) | 73.2 |
| Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn, Greylock Partners) | 73.17 |
| Dario Amodei (Anthropic) | 73 |
| Bob Iger (Walt Disney) | 73 |
| Henry R. Kravis (KKR & Co.) | 72.83 |
| Tim Cook (Apple) | 72.67 |
| Kevin Murphy (Publix) | 72.5 |
| Sundar Pichai (Alphabet, Google) | 72.43 |
Over half of the CEOs analyzed belong to the technology or financial industry. As technology advances, CEOs of companies in the tech industry must be able to adapt to the evolution of their teams’ needs and customers’ demands to progress and effectively convey their vision. Likewise, those in the financial sector must be able to clearly communicate with both employees and customers. It seems leaders in these industries have made effective communication a priority, resulting in their success in both this study and the real world.
The Advantage of Emotional Intelligence
While it certainly takes brains to lead a company along the likes of JP Morgan Chase or Meta, clear and effective communication alone is not a silver bullet to success. The type of communication leaders utilize is key, especially in terms of how leaders are connecting with their employees and customers. This requires adaptable communication and a good degree of self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
By using “I” when talking about emotions or thoughts, people exude a greater degree of emotional intelligence, and after looking at the amount of times these CEOs made “I” statements, the top spots for this category were Bill McDermott of ServiceNow, Brian Sikes of Cargill, and Carol B. Tome of UPS.
Using “I” statements doesn’t just convey emotional intelligence. These statements also reflect ownership and initiative. By using “I” statements, CEOs can take the lead, assuming responsibility and accountability, which are important traits when leading a company.
Once again, the financial sector has an overwhelming majority of companies ranked in the emotional intelligence category. It should come as no surprise that this industry embraces emotional intelligence, as leaders in finance rely on effective communication to emotionally connect with people and establish trusting relationships. When navigating complex changes in financial markets, financial teams need to feel supported when making tough decisions, so emotional intelligence helps CEOs lead and build successful teams.
Creating Cohesive Teams and Positive Customer Relationships
When it comes to team-focused dialogue, CEOs who use the word “we” the most in sentences, the top three CEOs in this category were Christopher Calio of Raytheon Technologies, followed by Brian Niccol of Starbucks and Ramon Laguarta of Pepsico. By using the word “we’, these leaders create a collaborative atmosphere and make the success of their company a team effort.
By far, the most common companies in this category are those focused on retail service. Entities such as Starbucks, Walmart, and McDonald’s consistently rely on working relationships with their customers to retain and increase business. By creating a team culture within their respective stores, they can boost employee retention through engagement and create a blueprint for how employees interact positively with customers.
After all, customers are the cornerstone of business success. The tech and finance CEOs who focus on their customers the most through their frequent customer-focused dialogue were Andy Jassy of Amazon, Sasan Goodarzi of Intuit, and Tricia Griffith of Progressive.
Leading in Today’s Digitized World
Effective communication isn’t just a tool for leadership, it’s a necessary component for CEOs to compete with others in their field. No matter what their IQ score is or what Ivy League school they attended, having effective communication skills is key to success in all industries. CEOs have to be able to convey their vision to stakeholders, employees, and customers.
Leading in today’s digital world means communicating in a way that reaches and impacts your audience, whether it’s the suits in the boardroom, your in-house team, or customers. So company leaders have to adapt to the usage of advanced technology. For example, the long 60-second commercials will no longer resonate with audiences, as attention spans have gotten shorter with apps like TikTok and Instagram.
Print ads also lack the effectiveness they once had, as people pay less attention to newspapers and magazines. Even billboards can blend together as each tries to outdo the other with keywords and colors. To combat this, companies must adapt and learn how to convey their mission effectively to their teams so they can create innovative solutions that continue to attract consumers.
People have changed the way they communicate within our digital world, and companies must do the same. CEOs can start to tackle communicating with stakeholders and consumers by promoting clear communication first within their own company. With the right blend of intelligence, emotional adaptability, and team-focused speech within their dialogue, business leaders can take their companies to new heights.
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