@article{7a0f44c410a94f34927bc69da999008c,
title = "Are CEOs born leaders? Lessons from traits of a million individuals",
abstract = "What makes a successful CEO? We combine a near-exhaustive sample of male CEOs from Swedish companies with data on their cognitive and noncognitive ability and height at age 18. CEOs differ from other high-skill professions most in noncognitive ability. The median large-company CEO belongs to the top 5% of the population in the combination of the three traits. The traits have a monotonic and close to linear relation with CEO pay, but their correlations with pay, firm size, and CEO fixed effects in firm policies are relatively low. Traits appear necessary but not sufficient for making it to the top.",
keywords = "CEOs, Cognitive ability, Noncognitive ability, Height, Compensation",
author = "Ren{\'e}e Adams and Matti Keloharju and Samuli Kn{\"u}pfer",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to Joao Cocco, Francesca Cornelli, James Dow, Alex Edmans, Andrea Eisfeldt, Julian Franks, Michael Faulkender, Xavier Gabaix, Neal Galpin, Denis Gromb, Magnus Henrekson, Dirk Jenter, Ross Levine, Alberto Manconi, Felix Meschke, Daniel Metzger, Paul Oyer, Matti Sarvim{\"a}ki, Henri Servaes, Luke Taylor, Marko Tervi{\"o}, Joacim T{\aa}g, David Yermack, Luigi Zingales, two anonymous referees, and to seminar and conference participants at the Aalto University, Beijing University, BI Norwegian Business School, Birkbeck College, Copenhagen Business School, Erasmus University Rotterdam, London Business School, Lund University, Maastricht University, Renmin University, Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Tilburg University, Tsinghua University, University of Bergen, University of Edinburgh, University of Geneva, University of St. Gallen, the Adam Smith Workshop for Corporate Finance, the 2015 EFA Conference, and the 2015 WFA Conference for valuable comments and suggestions. We thank Antti Lehtinen, Charlotta Olofsson, Ivan Baranov, Malin Olsson Tall{\aa}s, Petri Hukkanen, and Lari Paunonen for superb research assistance, Deloitte Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Research Foundation, Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, OP-Pohjola Foundation, SNS Centre for Business and Policy Studies, and Wihuri Foundation for financial support, and IFN for hospitality. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018",
year = "2018",
month = nov,
doi = "10.2139/ssrn.2436765",
language = "English",
volume = "130",
pages = "392--408",
journal = "Journal of Financial Economics",
issn = "0304-405X",
publisher = "Elsevier",
number = "2",
}