SA business leaders rate humour as a less important trait than global peers
In contrast‚ 59% of German executives rate humour important‚ and log leader India is at 84%.
Spanish executives‚ though‚ prove to be the most humourless in the survey of 3‚300 chief executives released on Tuesday (8 April)‚ at a mere 26%‚ followed by Taiwan (30%) and The Netherlands (38%).
Globally‚ integrity‚ a positive attitude and communication were seen as key attributes setting business leaders apart.
In South Africa 100% of executives consider integrity as important in a leader‚ followed by communication (99%)‚ a positive attitude (98%) and confidence (96%).
Nearly half of South African respondents believed their successor would come from within the business (49%)‚ while a quarter said they had not yet considered this. Fifteen percent said this future appointment may come from outside the business from a different sector‚ while 9% expect this may come from a competitor.
"While there is no hard data to support this‚ we would like to think that the fairly high expectancy of a promotion from within points to internal talent development programmes‚ particularly in line with the country's empowerment objectives‚" said Grant Thornton's chief executive Andrew Hannington.