Delta CEO: Leadership doesn't show up on a resume

NY Times, 27 Apr 09

Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson in an in-depth interview to Adam Bryant, on the unquantifiable aspects of human capital says that, the higher someone rises in an organization, the more important their intangible qualities become.
According to him, patience and the ability to control temper are the most important leadership lessons he has learnt since people look up to the leader and take their cues from him. Expressing gratitude is also important.
He learnt early on that it’s important to be a problem-solver, not a problem-creator.
Patience, communication skills and effective time management don't show up on a resume, but Anderson argues that these values and quirks of character usually dictate a person's success with an organization.
When hiring he enquires in depth about the person’s life, family, what they liked, where they liked to go on vacation, what their kids were like as it gives a really good perspective about who they were as people. He looks for a really strong set of values, good work ethic, good communication skills.
There should be the adaptability to change, the ability to get along well with people and be a part of a team and motivate people.
As regards time management he gives 4 suggestions:
Only touch paper once.
always have your homework done
Return your calls very promptly.
Stick to your schedule.
When running meetings,
Get the materials out ahead of time and make sure they are succinct and to the point.
Start the meeting on time.
Try to ask more questions than make statements.
It’s in appropriate to use a Blackberry in meetings.
He would like to see the ability to communicate and communicate effectively become a core capability in a business school curriculum.
”We measure, study, quantify, analyze every single piece of our business. Business schools in the United States have done a phenomenal job of creating that capability. But then you’ve got to be able to take all that data and information and transform it into change in the organization and improvement in the organization and the formulation of the business strategy.
You’ve got to execute, and that human factor part is important. I know it’s intangible and it’s not like finance where 2 plus 2 is 4. I don’t know whether it can be taught, but it can certainly be studied”.