Types of CEOs

I recall reading a while back a Wall Street Journal article that was discussing the backgrounds of Chinese diplomats vs. American diplomats. Chinese diplomats were engineers by profession whereas Americans tended to be lawyers.

I wonder if there has been any analysis done on how a company performs in the long-term based on the attitudes of the key leader.

I believe there are three types of attributes.

1. An engineer: Person who sees problems, and thinks about ways to solve them.
2. A businessman: Person who sees problems, and calculates the business opportunity.
3. A lawyer: Person who sees problems, and tries to fix it by decree.

In the long-term, I think engineers tend to generate the most shareholder value. But, I don't have the data to prove this.

Comments?