Surprise, Itís Not Ethics according to Survey Conducted by TheLadders.com

New York, NY ñ With a steady procession of American CEOs still beating a path to the courthouse, a reality check on what makes a strong corporate chief is in order. What personality traits separate the truly great CEOs from the headline-grabbing failures? According to a survey conducted by TheLadders.com, the worldís leading $100,000 jobs Web site, a solid majority of job seekers in the $100k market say ìLeadership,î above all else, is the defining characteristic of a great CEO.

When asked: What skills or personality traits are most important in a CEO, a 53% majority of executives in the $100k job market selected leadership. The second-highest-ranking trait was ethics, which claimed 19% of the vote. Strategy followed with 10%, and accountability followed that with 8%. Rounding out the bottom of the list were a surprising list of traits that are typically associated with strong on-the-job performance: management only claimed 5% of the vote; creativity only received 3%; and industry expertise accounted for just 2% of all responses (see chart below). A total of 1,366 registered $100k executives responded to the survey, which was conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between April 20th, 2005 and May 6th, 2005, with a margin of error of 2.7%.

In a separate survey of 911 executives, TheLadders.com sought further clarity on the topic of CEO performance, asking the question: What are the criteria on which your CEOís performance should be evaluated? Again, the notion of leadership reigned supreme, with 29% of the vote. Following closely behind was impact on shareholder value, which claimed 22% of all responses. Strategy for growth ranked third on the list, with 16%, followed by operational excellence with 11%. There was a two-way tie between creating an ethical work environment and creating a corporate culture; each logged 8% of the total vote. Ability to hit quarterly growth targets pulled up the rear with 6% (see chart below). The margin of error for this survey was 3.3%.

The value of being a strong leader isnít lost on lower-level executives. When asked in a separate survey of 922 executives: What are the most important criteria on which you are evaluated, leadership again took the lead spot with 39%. This was followed closely by a factor thatís been a continual sore spot for modern-day executives; the ability to hit quarterly growth targets claimed 29% of the vote. The quaint virtue of hard work yielded a 13% response, followed by industry knowledge with 10% and creativity with 9% (see chart below). The margin of error for this survey was 3.3%.

ìFor executive-level job seekers, the ability to demonstrate a track record of strong leadership is what separates the superstars from the strategic role players,î explained TheLadders.com President and CEO, Marc Cenedella. ìFiscal achievements and a history of sound judgment will serve you well in the job market, but the real stand-outs are those managers that can inspire their troops to follow them into battle.î

Now reaching over 365,000 readers and featuring over 20,000 new $100k job listings each month, TheLadders.com is the largest online job search service catering exclusively to the $100k market. Marc Cenedella founded TheLadders.com in July 2003 after a tenure as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, at HotJobs.com, ultimately shepherding that companyís sale to Yahoo, Inc. (NASD: YHOO) in 2002.