As a result of discussions with many senior executives, we believe that at a senior level, the following are attributes of the most highly valued executives.

Proven track record.  Everyone nowadays, from shareholders, financial analysts to executive boards, are looking for proven track records.  At senior levels, companies are less willing to hire on potential, if they can find someone with a demonstrable track record.  This means demonstrating quantified and qualified results.

Integrity.  With corporate governance and regulation featuring strongly across most business activities nowadays, professionalism and integrity are high on most clients’ list of essential skills.

Leadership.  Talented leaders are in great demand, particularly those who have a track record of inspiring others to achieve challenging goals.  Effective leaders spread a passion throughout the organisation and inspire equally through listening as they do through telling.

Developing a Diverse Workforce.  The value of an engaged, motivated and truly diverse workforce, has never been more recognised.  So executives who can demonstrate the promotion of gender, social and ethnic diversity across their workforce, will be highly regarded.

Sales and sales management skills.  All senior executives, including the CEO, are an enterprise’s salesforce at a time when businesses are competing more aggressively than ever against stiff competition.

General management / P & L experience.  Executives who have experience of developing cost and revenue statements, with an understanding of how they combine to drive bottom line growth, are most valuable.  Irrespective of the particular role that a person is in, they must be viewed as a "complete" business person who has a holistic view of the company.

Cost reduction/turnaround skills.  As many organisations have failed to deliver, companies need leaders who can identify opportunities to restructure, reducing overheads, and rooting out inefficiencies in business systems in order to make them cost competitive.

Execution skills.  Whilst developing strategies is of paramount importance, a key quality is the ability to translate those strategies into demonstrable results.  People who meet their commitments and execute with excellence are more highly valued than ever.

Output not input.  This speaks for itself; companies need people that genuinely deliver, not those who are busy yet ineffective.  So be prepared to demonstrate your results and their impact on the business.

Partnership and alliance expertise.  The current and growing trend is for organisations to play to their unique strengths in order to leverage competitive advantage.  In an era of collaboration, a business leader's ability to forge strategic alliances and partnerships will be increasingly important.

Merger, acquisition and integration experience.  In addition to the increasingly important alliance and partnership skills, business leaders and companies need to display a core competence in acquiring and integrating companies.  Many companies have grown through acquisition, however, not all have acquired and integrated companies effectively to secure talent, customer relationships, and new product lines.

Embracing emerging technology.  The best companies recognise that a key to success is the ability to utilise technology and web and cloud based business tools to leverage business growth and operational efficiency.  Business executives are expected to show that it is woven into all aspects of their external and internal operations.

International experience.  We live in a world of a truly global economy.  It is essential for business leaders to embrace linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity that can hugely enhance the development of international trade.