Excerpted from Commodity Trading Leadership.
While many of the essential traits of successful commodities leaders are to be found in the best leaders regardless of sector or type of business, these are the most desirable qualities in trading leaders cited by those we interviewed for our study, Commodity Trading Leadership: Bridging the Succession Gap. Many traders have a number of these traits, but to be an outstanding executive they will need to possess all of them.
Credibility. Respected for having a high intellect and strong trading experience, although an executive need not have been the star trader.
Depth of understanding. Knowing the subject matter from a technical and physical perspective, e.g., supply chain, logistics, financial, legal, etc.
Strategic and tactical thinking. A combination of taking the broader view and paying close attention to detail.
A deep understanding of risk. Balancing the ability to exploit opportunity and control trading risk.
An entrepreneurial mindset. Looking for and identifying the gaps and responding rapidly to market opportunities.
A strong backbone. Conviction, strong nerves and resilience.
People skills. The ability to inspire and motivate a team of traders, to shift easily between states of collegiality and authority.
The ability to recruit, train and retain talent. A successful trading enterprise requires stability, continuity and effective leadership succession.
A capacity for bridge building. Communicating effectively with management and the wider business; speaking both languages.
Executive presence. A combination of qualities, including composure under pressure, lucid communication skills and the confidence born of humility.
The strategic future of the sector will be shaped by people who have an operational and tactical understanding of the fundamentals of risk and physical trading as well as the soft skills, intellectual acuity and innovative drive to work at the highest strategic level. Such people are rare, and finding leaders with these qualities is a challenging but vital next step for firms throughout the industry.