How many ambidextrous CEOs do you know who part their hair down the middle, ride a bike to work while carrying a sack lunch in their backpack, park their bike and don a pair of shorts for the workday, and find time in a 50-hour work week to exercise four or more times?
Believe it or not, such people are inhabiting the corner office.
This information comes from CareerBuilder after the job search firm put out a series of questions to the big shots about their habits, both personal and work-related. Here's how the data shook out:
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Work wear: Only 20% consider a business suit typical office attire, while 57% choose business casual clothing and 18% regularly wear jeans or shorts to work. One-third go the Goth (black) route when color selecting, but navy blue isn't far behind. Choice No. 3 is gray. Not a colorful bunch, our CEOs.
Transportation: 79% drive cars to work, 25% of those cars are SUVs, 22% are mid-sized sedans and 10% prefer a luxury sedan. Another 4% said they drive hybrids.
Non-drivers: The ones that don't drive cars take public transportation (9%), walk (4%) or bike (1%).
Drinking habits: Two-thirds said they abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages at company happy hours, choosing soda (23%), water (19%), coffee (13%) or nothing at all (7%) to keep a clear head while the rest get rowdy. The ones who do drink with the troops drink beer (13%) or wine (13%), and 8% opt for mixed drinks.
Lunchtime habits: 42% bring their lunch from home, 22% eat fast food, 14% actually go sit down and eat at a restaurant, and 10% skip lunch.
Lefty/righty: Right-handers outnumber left-handers by nearly seven to one (80% versus 13%); however, 8% of executives claim to be ambidextrous.
How they wear their hair: 29% part on the right side, 19% go down the middle and 15% part on the left. One in four (25%) don't part their hair at all, while 11% sport a shaved or bald head.
Work week: 58% work 40 to 49 hours, 32% work 50 or more and 9% work less than 40 hours.
Buffing up: 82% work out at least once a week, with 39% working out four or more days a week. Nearly one in five say they rarely or never work out.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
