The CEO hiring myth boards need to let go of
At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we enable high-level women to mentor one another to achieve personal and professional success through sisterhood. As the nonprofit organization’s founder, chair, and CEO, I’m honored to share insights from thought leaders in our peer-to-peer mentoring community. This month, I’m joined by Jessica Poliner, a CEO, board director, and global business leader…
In an interview with The Exceptional Women Alliance, Jessica Poliner, a seasoned CEO and board director, challenges the notion that deep industry experience is the key factor in selecting successful CEOs. Poliner argues that the conventional wisdom surrounding board hires needs to be reconsidered. She contends that the best CEOs are not defined by their previous industry backgrounds, but rather by their ability to quickly learn, adapt, and create value in changing environments.
With her international career spanning industries, Poliner believes that learning agility, curiosity, resilience, and emotional intelligence are the core qualities that enable executives to thrive in today's rapidly evolving business landscape. She stresses that boards should broaden their criteria for executive readiness, emphasizing a candidate's demonstrated capacity to learn new businesses, lead transformations, build trust, and adapt when circumstances change, rather than simply focusing on their industry experience.
Poliner asserts that the modern CEO's primary responsibility is to foster an organization capable of learning faster than the market, rather than being an industry expert.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
