Toddlers and CEOs

Monday's Financial Times struck a very interesting chord with toddlers and CEOs.  Author Lucy Kellaway treated readers to an extended comparison of toddlers and CEOs. A sample:

Both groups tend to swagger round with a wide-legged gait.  Both say "mine" a lot and are exceedingly bad at sharing.  Both have short attention spans.  Both lack common sense and have issues with listening.  CEOs and toddlers are also hazy about the existence of other human beings, tending to view them as objects.  They both inspire fear in the hearts of their handlers.  And anyone who has observed how toddlers behave on aircraft will realise why it is a good idea for CEOs to travel in private jets. 

Some good toddler and CEO traits are:

• Toddlers are full of energy and enthusiasm. You can't beat a toddler who is really into something and going for it 100 per cent.
• Toddlers are natural risk-takers. They throw themselves into climbing down the banisters in the boldest, bravest fashion.
• Toddlers are persistent. When told not to smear jam on a DVD, they will wait a couple of minutes and then do it again.
• Toddlers are inquisitive. They will not be fobbed off with a stock reply but go on asking "why? why? why?"

·      Toddlers are creative. Their felt-tip drawings on walls and sofas betray the liveliest imagination.

·       Toddlers have great interpersonal skills. They are good at thawing the hardest heart with hugs and sloppy kisses.

Kallaway adds more qualities: that two-year-olds are "assertive and jolly good at saying no.  They are not hamstrung by inhibitions...They are good at making decisions." 

The toddler theory of leadership says that good leaders have the right skills already, the trick is to avoid dulling their edges with too many civilised niceties picked up along the way.