I read a Forbes article that sought to use a data driven approach to analyze if there are different skills required for senior executives. They asked 332,860 bosses, peers and subordinates to indicate which competencies, if done well, would have the greatest impact on a leader’s ability to be successful in their current position. Each subject would choose the top four competencies out of a list of 16. Over all, the same 7 competencies were identified as most important for a person at one level of the organization were also selected for someone at a higher or lower level.

I thought this was interesting because my initial reaction to the post was that my skill set is better suited for middle management because I am very “results” driven. But it seems like the prominent skill set is relative to which competencies are most critical for your current role.

Check out the article if you have time.
http://www.forbes. com/sites/joefolkman/2014/08/22/are-different-skills-required-for-senior-executives/#6437b5d55bb4