What it takes to become a president (A summary of opinions and observations expressed by a cross section of chairmen and presidents of mining companies)

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 75, No. 848, 1982

DOUGLAS A. SLOAN, Partner and Director of Mining Services, Currie, Coopers & Lybrand, Toronto, Ontario

Recently, a number of major mining companies seemed unable to find a president from within the industry, and were searching outside the industry. From this, one could conclude that managers within the industry are either not being prepared or are not preparing themselves for presidential responsibility. Opinions were sought from a number of senior executives, to attempt to define the skills a prospective president should acquire and what actions a company could take or that a prospective president could take to acquire these skills. This paper contains summaries of the opinions obtained, along with the author's comments. The paper also describes the actions some companies are taking and the actions that an aspiring president can take to prepare himself for corporate management.

Keywords: Presidents, Management, Mine management, Executives, Manpower, Reports, Financial statements, Training, Career development.