Here's a career tip that costs nothing. On the next call where you could answer the question yourself, hand it to the colleague who knows more. A new study says people who do that get the top job about twice as often.
Researchers read transcripts from about 78,500 earnings calls over ten years, 2010 to 2020. On those calls, about 10,864 executives from almost 2,500 public companies answered questions from analysts and investors. Some executives answered everything themselves. Others invited colleagues to jump in with detail or a different view. Boards and shareholders read the second group as more cooperative. On average, they were more likely to become the company's CEO.
The numbers
Across the sample, only about 6.7% of the executives who spoke were promoted to CEO. Among those who regularly invited colleagues to speak, the rate was about twice as high, 13%. "It's not about being nice or inclusive," says Wei Cai, a Columbia Business School professor and one of the authors. Inviting a colleague signals to analysts, investors and boards that the executive can coordinate and communicate across the organization. Executives who brought in a range of colleagues, not the same one or two, did even better. The researchers controlled for education, extroversion and gender. Cooperation went with seniority and age. Experienced executives shared the microphone more.
Shareholders noticed too. When a company promoted a more cooperative CEO, the stock rose 0.6% on average. That was against its expected return in the three days around the news. The researchers used three common financial models to set that expectation. A cooperative CEO, Cai says, can mobilize expertise and navigate a complex organization.
Our read
This is a Career story, and careers are the biggest asset most households own. Your future earnings are worth more than your 401(k) for most of your working life. A habit that doubles your odds of the top job is worth more than any fund pick we could name. The habit here is simple and public. Give credit on the record. Let the expert answer.
There's a second lesson hiding in the 0.6%. Markets reward leaders who don't need to be the whole show. We wrote today about a basketball team running 40% of its offense through one player, and about an index that leans on ten companies. The study is the other side of that coin. Here's your check this week. In your own career, find one meeting where you'd normally answer and pass it to the person who knows more. Then, for your money, look at whether your career and your portfolio are tied to the same company. If you work in tech and own a tech-heavy fund plus employer stock, one bad year hits your paycheck and your savings at once. That's the conversation worth fifteen minutes.