This question occurred to me while reading about reactions to the current head at the BBC and whoever will be the successor to the current Managing Director at the IMF. There are probably many aspects which set these important roles apart from each other.

They do however share the need for impeccable technical qualifications as well strong people and political skills. Allegedly, it is because his technical skills are deemed to be insufficient for the role that Dominique Strauss-Kahn the former French finance minister is being rejected by the Russians as the IMF’s next head. “There is nothing in Mr Strauss-Kahn’s curriculum vitae which could make it clear he has the necessary technical skills to do the job”, said Mr Aleksei Mozhin who is Russia’s IMF Executive Director .

The criticism being levelled at the BBC’s leadership is of a different kind. In an interview in today’s Guardian, Anna Ford, a former newsreader, had this to say, “Mark Thompson is clearly highly intelligent, but I think he and the other men in BBC management lack social skills. They lack empathy and the ability to talk to people” .

Any organisational leader would do well to ensure that, minimally, they are constantly improving on their previous best in these two areas of technical excellence on the one hand and social skills on the other. (Interestingly, both organisations are undergoing considerable change). How is this measured and course-corrected in your organisation?

Tags: BBC, emotional intelligence

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Change, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.