When the board of directors of a large food company was considering the selection of a new president, one of the directors worked out this questionnaire:
- Who of the possible candidates is the best known as a personality to the most company people?
- Who is the most liked and trusted by them?
- Who is held in the highest regard outside the organization...in public life and "in the trade"?
- Who is the most warmly human in his dealings with people?
- Who has demonstrated the best capacity for selecting able people, and the greatest willingness to delegate authority and responsibility?
- Who will be apt to do the best job of keeping his desk and mind clear of day-to-day operating problems, so he will have time to think in broader terms of tomorrow and next year?
- Who does the boldest yet soundest thinking?
- Who is most open-mined and willing to revise decisions when important new facts come to light?
- Who inspires the best cooperation and exercises the best control and coordination, without "trespassing" on responsibility once delegated?
- Who is most self-possessed in all situations, best able to adjust to personalities and circumstances and tact and understanding?
- Who can be depended upon to make the most of a promising new plan or idea?
- Who can "take it" the best under a heavy load of responsibility?
- Who is the best builder of the people under him?
- Who is most likely, in good times and bad, to remember that the basic job of the president is to operate the business at a profit?
ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Illustrations from ChristianGlobe, by Staff