CEOs as Public Leaders

Posted by on February 07, 2007

The McKinsey Quarterly has published the results of a survey of U.S. excecutives revealing that, "Almost half of US executives believe they and their peers should play a leadership role in publicly shaping debate and in efforts to address sociopolitical issues such as education, health care, and foreign policy, according to the latest McKinsey Quarterly survey.1 Yet only one-seventh of survey respondents consider themselves to be playing that role now." One of the study's most interesting findings relates to the motivations behind business leaders' public engagement: "What motivates executives who take a leading role in tackling sociopolitical issues? Again, the survey reveals a disparity between perception and practice. Among executives who say they don?t play a leadership role, roughly two out of three perceive that those who do are driven primarily by business reasons and are usually acting as representatives of their companies. However, when we pose the same question to executives who say they are taking a leadership role, their responses are the reverse: almost two out of three report that they are motivated primarily by personal reasons and are usually acting as private citizens. Nevertheless, more than half of those playing a leadership role say it is integral to their company?s approach to corporate citizenship."

Unsurprisingly, "Respondents agree that the most important barrier to playing a leadership role is lack of time."