Adam Bryant on The CEO Test

Adam Bryant’s Corner Office interviews with CEOs included some of the most innovative, practical, and often surprising insights into the challenges and strategies of leaders I have ever read. So it is not surprising that his latest book, The CEO Test: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders, co-written with former Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer, has great advice for anyone who wants to accomplish anything, whether it’s running a big public company or working with other people on any significant project. The book’s excellent advice about making and communicating goals and about making sure the people around you communicate well with you is as important in a family as it is in a boardroom. Bryant was kind enough to take the time to answer my questions.

Years ago, there was a popular book called The Peter Principle, which argued that people rise to the level of their incompetence, so that, for example, a superb teacher might be promoted to principal but find that it requires a different set of skills entirely. Do you think that is a valid description? How can boards of directors determine how the skills that make someone a very capable number two or three translate to being a CEO?

I agree with the notion that people often rise to positions for which they are not well-suited, but I think explaining it in terms of incompetence is oversimplifying the phenomenon. It’s not…