Confidence is one of the defining characteristics of successful executives, but few CEOs felt prepared for their responsibilities, according to a survey in the Harvard Business Review.
Leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder surveyed 402 CEOs from 11 countries between January and November 2017 and asked them questions regarding the challenges of stepping into a leadership position.
Four things to know:
1. There is no role that matches the demands of a CEO, and 68 percent of respondents said that, in hindsight, they weren't fully prepared to take on the job.
2. Every CEO wants to drive culture change, but 50 percent of respondents said the task was more difficult than they expected.
3. Most CEOs know that they are only as effective as the people they surround themselves with, but 47 percent said that developing their senior leadership team was surprisingly challenging.
4. Forty-eight percent said that finding the time for self-reflection was harder than they anticipated.