Executives who are promoted to CEO often share a similar trait: They demonstrate a willingness to communicate and collaborate with colleagues on quarterly earnings calls, a recent study found.

Researchers analyzed transcripts from about 78,500 earnings calls over a 10-year period, from 2010 to 2020. During those calls, about 10,864 executives from almost 2,500 public companies answered questions from analysts and investors. The researchers found that the executives who invited colleagues to jump in and provide perspective or more detail to an answer were perceived by board members and shareholders as being more cooperative and, on average, were more likely to eventually become the company’s CEO.