The key takeaways from "The CEO Next Door" that are actionable for aspiring CEOs include:

1. Making decisions with speed and conviction: Quick and decisive action often trumps accuracy.

2. Engaging with others in a way that drives results: Effective CEOs understand the importance of building strong relationships and inspiring others.

3. Relentless reliability: CEOs need to be consistently dependable and trustworthy.

4. Adapting boldly to new challenges and scenarios: The ability to adapt and respond to change is crucial for a CEO.

5. Portraying yourself as a safe pair of hands: Boards often focus on hiring someone who appears safe and reliable.

6. Balancing likeability and confidence with getting things done: While soft skills are important, they should not overshadow the need for results.

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The CEO Next Door

There are four behaviors associated with success as a CEO: making decisions with speed and conviction; engaging with others in a way that drives resul...

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Start by portraying yourself as a safe pair of hands—time and again, that is the one factor that decision makers focus upon, making sure they entrust this role to someone safe and reliable. This may not be the best way to proceed once you have the job, but boards hire on perception not on results. As noted earlier, being too nice does not get things done, but it does get you hired. Boards, and interviewers in general, consistently overemphasize soft skills such as likeability and confidence when making hiring decisions.

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The book "The CEO Next Door" emphasizes the importance of soft skills in the hiring process. It suggests that boards and interviewers often overemphasize soft skills such as likeability and confidence when making hiring decisions. They perceive these skills as indicators of a safe and reliable candidate. However, the book also notes that being overly nice may not be effective once in the role, indicating that while soft skills are important for getting hired, they should be balanced with other competencies for effective job performance.

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