Malta’s CEOs would really love to have one particular set of skills

Want to raise a CEO?

Then it might be worth investing in lessons to get them playing an instrument, learning how to sing or dance, or perhaps paint.

It won’t necessarily help them get to the top, but it will likely help them avoid some regrets, with no less than half the 50 CEOs interviewed in MaltaCEOs 2023’s print edition saying that the talent they would most like to have, but don’t, is some kind of musical or artistic ability.

Business leaders across every sector said they would love to have creative talent.

Malta Business Registry CEO Geraldine Spiteri Lucas joins BOV CEO Kenneth Farrugia in wishing she could paint, while BELS Language School Owner and CEO Rebecca Bonnici and Malta Tourism Authority CEO Carlo Micallef say they always wanted to slip into a pair of dancing shoes.

Zamco Group CEO Sandro Zammit and Convenience Shop CEO Martin Agius both say they would like to play the drums. Retail Marketing Ltd CEO Jonathan Shaw, the piano.

There also seems to be something about working in a high-tech environment that makes people want to break out in song, with Shireburn Software CEO Yasmin de Giorgio, BMIT Technologies CEO Christian Sammut, and PressEnter Group Lahcene Merzoug all expressing a burning desire to be capable of holding a note.

Some of the other answers to the quick-fire question were related to skills that could improve their work as CEOs, with MAPFRE Middlesea CEO Javier Moreno Gonzalez and Take Off Ltd Founder and CEO Alona Andruk both choosing public speaking as a talent they would like to have.

Or in other words, specifically those of FJVA CEO Adriana Camilleri Vassallo: “I wish I had the gift of the gab”.

In fact, communication was something of a theme, with Epic CEO Pierre-Etienne Cizeron expressing his desire to be able to speak fluently in multiple languages and Bluefort CEO Edward Borg Grech saying he wishes he were able to blog effectively.

Meanwhile, MeDirect Bank CEO Arnaud Denis and eeetwell Founder and CEO Ammar Soltan admitted that their patience wears thin at times, and said they would not mind having “infinite patience”.

As for Identity Malta Agency CEO Mark Mallia and People & Skin CEO Joanna Delia, the talent they wish they had is the ability to do certain manual work.

Football, tennis and basketball also featured in the list, as did the ability to fly a plane (Sparkasse CEO Paul Mifsud).

Certainly, the prize for the most oddball longed-for talent goes to SG Solutions CEO Antoine Galea Salamone, who said he would like nothing more than to know how to gaze into a crystal ball.

Not everyone wishes they had a particular talent.

Fonicom CEO Renaldo Arciola and Sean Cassar, Founder and Managing Director of Design Hub Store and Elevist Wellness Centre, said they are “pretty content” and “appreciative” of their existing talents, respectively, while BRND WGN CEO Peter-Jan Grech perhaps expressed a similar thought more bluntly, responding with an emphatic “No”.

Most people, however, will most likely relate best to Nectar Ltd CEO Roderick Abela, who replied: “Too many to mention!”