The CEO personality in the public sector: Traits that derail

Key digested message This article explores the personality traits that can potentially derail public sector Chief Executives (CEOs), using data from the Hogan Development Survey (HDS). It aims to understand which behaviours correlate with leadership success or failure in the public sector. Notably, nearly half of the CEOs assessed exhibited no high-risk derailers, indicating a high degree of stability and consistency in their leadership profiles. When compared to global and private sector benchmarks, public sector CEOs appear to be less susceptible to derailment. Among those who did present high-risk derailers, the most common was imaginative, highlighting a tendency toward curiosity and agility – qualities that, while valuable, may lead to impracticality if not well-managed. Additionally, high bold emerged as significantly more prevalent among unsuccessful candidates, suggesting that overconfidence and resistance to feedback may be detrimental to securing public sector CEO appointments.