Executive search consultants should be on the lookout for leaders who are outwardly focused and can respond quickly to challenges, while remaining optimistic.

Speaking at an event organised by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) in London yesterday, Richard Dobbs, director of global management consultancy the McKinsey Global Institute, told delegates successful business leaders will need to have three main skills to succeed in an ever-changing world.

The first of these skills, Dobbs explained, is being outwardly focused. These leaders would look at developments in technology – such as the driverless car, for example – and work out how this would affect their business. They may also visit Silicon Valley to see how businesses in other industries are being disrupted and what can be learned from them.

The second main skill is speed of response. Dobbs gave the example of India’s space programme that managed to put an orbiter around Mars. He explained India had managed to reduce the time other countries had taken to do it from five years to one and all for around a 10th of the price – £700m reduced down to £75m.

And the third skill leaders will need to have is optimism, Dobbs said.

“Yes, we need to be outward focused, yes, we need to be agile and respond, but we also need to be optimists,” he told delegates.

“Because when a world is disrupting, the pessimist sees all the things that go wrong, and try and make sure the business survives. The optimists say ‘yeah, my business is going to disappear, I’m not worried. I have the attributes to create something new’.”

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