Selecting a CEO

A recent advertisement in a newspaper inviting applications for the position of a CEO in a state-owned company caught my attention. I have no knowledge if the pre-qualifications in the ad have been tailor-made keeping somebody’s profile in mind or if it is really going to be a genuine exercise of search and selection. State-owned companies and other government enterprises in Pakistan are easy prey to political interference whenever the top slot falls vacant for any reason whatsoever. There is hardly any policy of succession planning in the government-owned enterprises. Even if some promising candidates are available within the organisation, they are conventionally ignored.

On the other hand, the process of selecting an outsider is neither transparent nor based on merit. In fact, the Selection Committee is mostly ill-conceived and merely serves as a rubber stamp to validate a decision already taken elsewhere. Such a hand-picked appointee is laden with a devious agenda and soon starts playing havoc with the Company’s ethos in the name of transformative leadership. Next the financial resources of the Company start frittering away in the name of business pursuits. Soon a financially robust organisation is relegated to join the loss making league of institutions like PIA, Steel Mills, Wapda and Railways, to name a few; otherwise the list of such subsidy-driven white elephants is exhaustive.

I was reading about the selection process of a CEO in the West including the developed nations. They recognise this slot as a breed apart and rely on scientific methods to establish the suitability of the aspiring candidates. A psychometric test is considered a reliable method of soul searching. Russell Reynolds Associates Company incorporated in New York, US, is a global leader in assessment, recruitment and succession planning for boards of directors, chief executive officers and other key roles within the C-suite. A very absorbing study bearing the title ‘Inside the brain of a chief executive officer’ has been authored by Russell Reynolds Associates which identifies the common personality traits and behavioral patterns of the most successful corporate leaders in the world. While I was engrossed in the nitty-gritty of the leadership commonalities, my poetic streak suddenly reminded me of a verse from Allama Iqbal which aptly and beautifully describes a true leader better than any study on the subject. Allama has conceived the profile of a leader in the following words.

Nigah buland sukhan dilnawaz jaan pursooz

Ye hi hai rakhte safar mir e karawan ke liye

The only thing heartening in the pending selection is the presence of a young and dynamic minister, Hammad Azhar, who is among the best lot available to Imran Khan in his Cabinet. He has recently taken the charge of the Ministry of Energy which includes the Petroleum Division. I am sure he would exercise due caution and care, and not let the oil and gas exploration and production sector suffer any setback as the two major upstream petroleum companies (Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Oil and Gas Development Company) are operating far below their potential. The need for new discoveries is a battle cry as Pakistan’s economic survival depends on the performance of these two front runners. The young minister would also do well to get these two premier oil and gas exploration and production companies disentangled from the bureaucratic clutches in the national interest.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2021.

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