TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaplan,Steven N.
AU  - Klebanov,Mark M.
AU  - Sorensen,Morten
TI  - Which CEO Characteristics and Abilities Matter?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14195
PY  - 2008
Y2  - July 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14195
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14195.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Steven N. Kaplan
Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago
5807 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-4513
Fax: 773/702-0458
E-Mail: steven.kaplan@chicagobooth.edu

Mark Klebanov
Ziff Brothers Investments
E-Mail: Mklebano@ChicagoBooth.edu

Morten Sorensen
Columbia University
Columbia Business School
Uris Hall 802
3022 Broadway
New York, NY  10027
Tel: 212/851-2446
E-Mail: ms3814@columbia.edu
M3  - presented at "New World of Private Equity Conference", April 4-5, 2008
AB  - We study the characteristics and abilities of CEO candidates for companies involved in buyout (LBO) and venture capital (VC) transactions and relate them to hiring decisions, investment decisions, and company performance.  Candidates are assessed on more than thirty individual abilities. The abilities are highly correlated; a factor analysis suggests there are two primary factors with intuitive characterizations  -- one for general ability and one that contrasts team-related, interpersonal skills with execution skills.  Both LBO and VC firms are more likely to hire and invest in CEOs with greater general abilities, both execution- and team-related.  Success, however, is more strongly related to execution skills than to team-related skills.  Success is, at best, only marginally related to incumbency, holding observable talent and ability constant.
ER  -