The energy transition executives whose psychometric profiles we analyzed lead companies operating in the following industries (among others): wind, solar and geothermal power development and operations; renewable fuels; electricity generation, transmission and distribution; energy management solutions; bioplastics; electrified transportation. Some assessed executives were leading a new energy business line within a traditional energy company.
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While corporations and investors alike continue to prioritize actions that improve the global energy system’s environmental sustainability, recent geopolitical and technological developments have brought energy security concerns to the forefront.
Energy companies today – be they utilities, privately backed renewable energy developers, national or international energy companies – are facing challenges at every turn including through:
In a context of elevated uncertainty, hiring and developing outstanding leaders is more important than ever. But how can CHROs, CEOs and boards at energy transition companies (and the private capital funds investing in them) identify the next cohort of executives who will lead their organization through today’s uncertainty and into the future? What personality and leadership traits do top-performing executives within these organizations most typically display?
To answer these questions, Russell Reynolds Associates analyzed the Hogan psychometric profiles of 54 energy transition leaders and conducted interviews with a subset of these leaders, contributing to the quotes used throughout this piece. Executives in the sample are distributed across global geographies and hold roles such as CEO, COO, president, and other N-1 operational or commercial roles. We collected their data from recent executive assessments and a proprietary outreach effort that took place in 2024.
Hogan’s assessment tools score individuals across 28 metrics including: their day-to-day behavioral tendencies (HPI), how they perform under pressure (HDS), and their motivations and drivers (MVPI). Through the lens of an industrial-organizational psychologist, the quantitative and qualitative data provides rich insights into an individual’s core preferences, derailers, and interests.
Via this analysis, RRA has identified six key characteristics that are consistently found among energy transition leaders. Read on to learn more about these common characteristics, as well as recommendations for managers looking to hire, retain, and develop top energy transition leadership talent.
Energy transition leaders demonstrate an informed and innovative leadership style, as evidenced by their scores on measures of continuous learning, self-reliance, and curiosity. These leaders are more likely to stay informed on market and political movements, external customer needs, and what’s required to drive leading/best practices. Additionally, they are comfortable breaking from tradition when industry trends signal changing winds. They don’t feel beholden to the ways of the past and enjoy being recognized for their willingness to challenge the status quo.
Recommendations
Explore how your candidates have approached innovation in the past. Look for signs that they have successfully applied their knowledge of cutting-edge market trends to discover improved and novel solutions to traditional problems, and ask for examples of how they’ve shared that knowledge with team members, keeping them both engaged and informed.
Once in role, consider how a disruptive innovator is likely to be received by your organization’s culture. Ensure that you are creating meaningful space for these leaders to drive change, while also supporting them on how to build followership in your company. This balance is critical for energy transition leaders to achieve their fullest potential.
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy transition leaders inspire engagement, as evidenced by their psychometric scores on measures pertaining to networking, pleasure-seeking, and visual appeal. They are observant and persuasive communicators who create compelling environments that invite others in and foster engagement. Through connection, clarity of mission, and magnetic appeal, they drive buy-in and inspire authentic passion for the work.
Energy transition leaders often lead with inclusivity and are open to a wide range of perspectives. They are thoughtful about how information needs to look and feel to influence both internal and external stakeholders.
Recommendations
Watch for examples of a candidate’s ability to bring others together and assemble diverse perspectives. Explore how their passion and mission-focus has influenced and impacted others around them in the past. To understand how they might approach and influence stakeholders, ask candidates to present a vision they’ve aligned with others around, or how they would drive strategy in their future organization.
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy transition leaders exhibit high political savviness through their scores on measures of interpersonal style, trust in others, and social skill. They typically possess the strong relationship-building skills needed to navigate legacy ecosystems that may be resistant to change – if they can demonstrate patience.
Motivated by big ideas and industry disruption, their action orientation may appear as rule-breaking or lacking consideration for their organization’s practical limitations. They can occasionally grow frustrated if bureaucracy slows the pace of change.
Recommendations
Explore how your candidates approach stakeholders and systems that are resistant to change. Candidates who express high levels of patience and a willingness to accept some strategic compromises are likely to fare better in more complex or bureaucratic environments. Ensure that referencing provides a clear perspective on the candidate's ability to build strong relationships, adapt to new cultures, and approach change mandates with an appropriate long-term view.
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy transition leaders tend to be highly optimistic around experimentation, as evidenced by their scores on measures of resilience and consistency. They maintain a hopeful tenacity in the face of adversity. With a “glass half full” personality, they are motivated by uncovering new solutions when they encounter novel problems, rather than becoming complacent.
Energy transition leaders are well-versed in constant market evolutions, new technology development, volatile government sentiment towards subsidies, and frequent changes in the cost of capital. As a result, these leaders must be comfortable “failing forward,” modelling the resiliency to try again. High-performing energy transition executives are likely to nurture team environments that champion this experimentation mindset and boldly venture into unfamiliar commercial opportunities.
Recommendations
Seek to understand a candidate’s ability to drive experimentation under uncertain macro or business conditions; for example, ask them for evidence of where they have forged new partnerships through first-of-a-kind commercial agreements. Listen for situations in which they faced a significant setback, assessing their response and whether they maintained forward momentum. Reflect on how their approach is likely to resonate with other senior leaders in these high-pressure moments.
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
As indicated by their scores pertaining to ideation and delegation, energy transition leaders are often big-picture thinkers who operate with a long-term industry-wide view. They tend to enjoy operating at 40,000 feet, and are less inclined to become mired in details, nitpick errors, or micromanage reports.
Energy transition leaders tend to forge ahead in ambiguous situations, even when ideas may seem eccentric or unfocused to others. Their ability to envision efforts holistically allows these leaders to engage stakeholders and “sell” them on ambitious projects. However, they are most successful when complemented by detail and process-oriented partners who can ensure that technology and commercial strategies are delivered, and milestones are achieved with appropriate attention to timeline and cost.
Recommendations
Driven by their focus on big ideas, energy transition leaders occasionally introduce risk by overlooking the importance of process and the due diligence that investors or stakeholders may require. Investigate how your candidate has carried a strategic plan through to implementation, and probe how much detail they can recall and relay. Delving into their self-awareness will be critical to understanding how they intentionally balance their strengths and gaps with complementary talent to build a well-balanced and competent management team that can deliver, as well as articulate, performance against specific KPIs.
Once in role, big-picture leaders will benefit from a hands-on board, as directors can lend strong sector knowledge and the judgement and business acumen to appropriately challenge strategy. In combination, this kind of strong support system helps de-risk energy transition leaders’ vision, translating big ideas into concrete results over a realistic period of time.
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy transition leaders are often motivated by impact over personal gains, as evidenced by their scores on measures of variety seeking, generosity, helping others, and risk-taking.
Driven by the mission — rather than personal financial security and wealth — energy transition leaders tend to place higher value on market impact, innovation, and ability to drive change at significant scale. They emphasize changing the world over individual legacy and are willing to risk personal financial reward – even failure – for the sake of pioneering a new technology or market in support of decarbonization. As a result, they may see profitability or immediate value creation as secondary to global impact.
Recommendations
Striking a balance between impact and financial performance is critical to the success of energy transition leaders, particularly those backed by funds and investors who seek more rapid financial returns. Explore how your candidate has balanced these priorities while maintaining the confidence and support of investors. Review their business performance track record and consider seeking reference points from investors with whom the candidate has previously worked.
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Energy Transition Executive Assessment Participant
Transitioning to an environmentally sustainable energy and industrial system remains an inescapable priority, which means energy transition organizations need executives who are big thinkers and mission-driven. However, the current economic and geopolitical context also requires businesses and investors to empower leaders who can find balance between idealism and practicality.
As hiring managers and boards work to identify and develop the next generation of energy transition leaders, we hope that this analysis serves as a guiding reference. Organizations should look for leaders who demonstrate the ability to keep individual goals and motivators in line with an environment that often requires reliance on process, metrics, and results presented through careful analysis.
As the energy industry resets its expectations, passion and financial returns need to be more strictly linked. Simultaneously, organizations are likely to attract and retain the best talent if they demonstrate patience: delivering on an energy transition strategy is a process that often requires a multi-decade investment.
Abigail Skerrett co-leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Energy Transition practice in EMEA. She is based in London.
Stephen Schoenberger co-leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Energy Transition practice in the Americas. He is based in Boston.
Katy Schawe is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Leadership Advisory practice. She is based in Houston.
Francesco Menonna is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Industrial and Natural Resources Knowledge team. He is based in New York City.
Randy Octuck is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Assessment and Development Knowledge team. He is based in San Francisco.
The authors would like to give particular thanks to Eduardo Medina, CEO at RES Energy, and Barbara Flesche, Executive Vice President Europe at Statkraft for their time and valuable perspectives in addition to all the industry leaders who lent time to this effort.
The authors would also like to acknowledge the following RRA colleagues for their contribution to this paper:
Mauro Gimenez leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Global Industrial and Natural Resources sector. He is based in Houston.
Erin Marie Collins is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Assessment and Development team. She is based in Melbourne.
Marc Baca co-leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Power & Utilities practice in the Americas. He is based in Houston.
J. Hewins co-leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Leadership Advisory practice for Industrial and Natural Resources in the Americas. He is based in San Francisco.