Conclusion
Leader charm matters; personal proficiency matters more. An investor who meets with an organization’s management team should assess the personal proficiency of the whole team, not just the top leader. The insights in this chapter suggest that investors look beyond a leader’s superficial style and probe more deeply into six personal proficiencies that individuals on the leadership team might possess. It is unlikely that any one leader will excel at all six, but the individuals on the team should complement one another and collectively demonstrate personal proficiency. Investors can do more than say "I like him” or "I like her” as a leader and have more rigorous confidence in personal proficiencies of leaders, as summarized in Table 3.1 on the next page. By investigating these six elements of personal proficiency, investors see beyond the face of the firm’s leader.
