Baby Boomers Make It to the Executive Suite
The baby boomers are making it into the corner office, with about 22% of respondents saying they are between 37 and 45 years of age. To be sure, the largest single group of CEOs (28.4%) were between 51 and 55.
There is no surprise that the glass ceiling is firmly in place, with nearly all the respondents being male - 98.6%, in fact. Almost all (98.6%) are white, with 1.4% Asian.
A clear majority (75.3%) are Protestant, 17.8% Roman Catholic, and 1.4% Jewish.
As for education, some respondents may be lukewarm about the long-term value of their MBA degrees. Nearly 40% of the CEOs hold MBAs, but only 24.7% said an executive with an MBA is more valuable to the bank in the long run than an executive without one.
An MBA may be important in the early stages of proving oneself, said Mr. Monogenis. "But after three years, its importance diminishes."
Most chief executives said they had undergraduate degrees in business administration, economics, or finance. One, however, majored in agriculture, one in French, and one in pre-veterinary medicine. Two respondents had only high school diplomas.
Business administration and finance ranked highest on their list of what undergraduate degree is most helpful to a banking leader. But liberal arts also scored high.
These men are definitely the marrying kind. A clear majority (78.4%) are married to their original spouse. Of the 20.3% whose marriages failed, 17.6% are remarried.
Well over half of the CEOs feel they don't have enough time to spend with their families (56.8%) or on outside interests (65.8%).
Little wonder. Over half of them (56.6%) said they work 60 to 65 hours a week, excluding commuting time but including business entertainment and travel. Nearly 20% of the executives clock in 70 to 80 hours a week.
While golf, fishing, and boating are the outside pursuits most often mentioned by those who do manage to squeeze in leisure time, a few came up with some fairly nontraditional activities - for bankers at least. Among them: auto racing, bird hunting, constructing houses, ultra-marathoning, and flying upside down in an airplane!
As for skills they would like to acquire in the next five years, several mentioned computers, foreign languages, and patience.
Four weeks of vacation is what nearly 40% said they need to feel sharp, and almost half said they have taken between four and five weeks off within the past year.
Unlike other careerists, CEOs tend to stay put. A majority (67.6%) have moved two times or fewer during their careers, excluding military moves, while only 12.2% said they have moved five to 10 times.
