Integrity cited as key to climbing the corporate ladder.

• Author: Ladd, Scott
• Position: CORPORATE LEADERSHIP - Survey - Brief article

What are the attributes that best qualify a chief financial officer for success? Functional expertise? Check. Technical knowledge? Certainly. Those two are givens. But what comes next?

According to Robert Half Management Resources, integrity finished a strong third in a recent survey of the traits cited by CFOs as most important for future corporate financial leaders. Respondents included CFOs from a wide cross-section of U.S. companies with at least 20 employees.

The survey found that 33 percent of respondents mentioned integrity--after functional and technical skills--as what they look for most in grooming future leaders. Interpersonal and communications skills ranked just behind, at 28 percent. Fifteen percent of the survey pool cited initiative and 12 percent said they were impressed most by the ability to motivate others.

Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half, says having a...