Greg Stevenson, a former ASX-listed CEO, explains what boards actually look for when hiring a CEO. Performance gets you considered, but three things get you chosen: presence, the ability to decide with incomplete information and stand by it, and self-awareness about how others actually perceive you.
In my experience, 30 years in senior leadership, CEO of an ASX-listed company, and now working privately with executives preparing for this exact step, it comes down to 3 things. The first is presence. Not personality, but presence. When you walk into a room, do people instinctively feel that you're in control of yourself, Of the situation, of the complexity in front of you. That's not about being loud or dominant. It's about settled authority that comes from knowing who you are as a leader. Most people can't manufacture it, but they can develop it. The second is conviction. Can you make a hard decision with incomplete information, under pressure, when smart people around you disagree, and then stand by it? Not stubbornly, thoughtfully, with clarity about why. Boards don't want a CEO who needs consensus to move. They want someone who can hold a position and lead through uncertainty. The third, and this is one of— one most executives underestimate, is self-awareness. Do you know how you land? Do you know the gap between how you think you're leading and how it's actually being experienced by the people around you? Because a CEO role amplifies everything— your strengths and your blind spots. And the executives who get chosen are the ones who have done the work to understand both. These 3 things— presence, conviction, self-awareness— they're not on your resume. You can't put them in a cover letter. But they are absolutely what's being assessed when the decision is being made.
