---
title: Results-Focused CEOs Outperform High EI CEOs - ViRTUS
description: Brad Smart, co-author of the book Topgrading, has written a fascinating blog post that references two new studies. Learn more about what he had to say.
---

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# Results-Focused CEOs Outperform High EI CEOs

 Published by [Mike Desjardins](https://blog.virtusinc.com/virtus-inc-leadership-journal/author/mike-desjardins) on Jan 26, 2009 2:36:03 AM

Brad Smart, co-author of the book Topgrading, has written a fascinating blog post that references two new studies which seem to somewhat contradict what the HR community has been saying with respect to results-focused CEOs and high emotional intelligence CEOs and the connection to company performance: “University of Chicago researchers studied 225 CEOs assessed with Topgrading methods, and found that CEOs who were extremely results-oriented delivered much better financial results than CEOs high in Emotional Intelligence.”

Apparently the results point to a “disproportionate emphasis” on EI vs results orientation in the hiring process.

The CEOs we’ve worked with over the past 10 years at [ViRTUS ](https://www.virtusinc.com)who have the highest performance and the lowest senior rank turnover consistently show a blend of results focus and strong emotional intelligence (which they are consciously developing).

What has your experience been with your CEO?

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