International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 2; February 2011 254 Personality-Fit of a CEO in Family Businesses: Evolution of a conceptual framework for Leadership Effectiveness Abhishek Kumar Assistant Peofessor Bharathidasan Institute of management Mhd Campus, Bhel Complex Tiruchirappalli, India Abstract The role of a CEO necessarily involves organizational development activities. They are responsible for delivering quarter on quarter performances and for harnessing a culture of performance and institutionalizing processes that will sustain and improve success parameters. It has been observed personality of the CEOs go a long way in enabling them to perform their role. His personality appropriateness becomes even more critical when he is working for a family business. This appropriateness is determined by the stage of growth the organization is in at the given period. This paper shall evolve a conceptual framework through a real-life case study incorporating two primary stages of a family-owned organization, i.e. Professionalization and Ambitious Growth and two primary but dominant characteristic of leadership i.e. Strategy and Action. Keywords: Family Business, CEO, Leadership Effectiveness, Strategy, Professionalization Prologue A Soldier on the war front or an Army General strategizing in the army camp, both present different pictures of possible roles that a leader can assume, when a war is to be waged or an organization is to be led. Both approaches bring value to the table, add a dash of either valor or craft to the effort and consequently effect diverse changes in the system. Action and strategy, first without the second is off-course and second without the first is hollow. A healthy balance between the two delivers results and prepares ground for sustained delivery of results. However it cannot be ignored that an individual has greater penchant for any one of the two. A tale of two CEOs is in brief a story of an organization that saw in quick succession, two CEOs who belonged to these two broad categories. The drama as it unfolds under the stewardship of two different types of leaders throws light upon their impact on the personal and professional lives of men and women who are a part of the organization as it does on the spirit with which the organization is run. Introduction of the organization Goldstein Industries Pvt Ltd is a family - owned business. It is a manufacturing concern and has done well financially in last about 100 years. In fact it is one of the few business houses in the country that has withstood the test of time. The credit for this chiefly goes to progressive mindset of the owners as also to the powerful brands that the company owns. Just as the management has been sensitive to the needs of the changing nature of business environment in the country, they have also been extremely proactive in meeting the needs of its employees. However in the year 1999-2000, Goldstein Industries realized that it would have to change radically to remain and to beat competitors in the business. It was still operating with the outdated technology, machines were old, work culture was lackadaisical and the leadership lacked vision. Salaries were low, loyalty was still a cardinal measure of performance and potential, there was complete absence of processes related to people, recruitment was done as per whims and fancies of the supervisors, there was hardly any training programs conducted, performance management process was non-existent and was done with summary disdain. There was no institutionalized process that sought to reward performance or to identify potential. Vision and mission statements were general and lacked clear articulation of goals whether short term or long term. In other words despite doing well, it did not know where it was going and what it sought to achieve. The board that was supposed to provide direction to the organization was more of a rubber – stamp variety attesting to the wishes of the owners. It is against this backdrop that the owners took the decision of initiating the professionalization process. The first step was to recruit a professional CEO.