The typical Irish business leader over 45-years-of-age drives a Mercedes, likes to play golf, is loyal to his company and has a non-working partner who is younger than him.

He also values the judgment of his peers, uses a hands-free mobile phone in the car and desktop technology. E-mail and personal computing are also used and he is concerned about what the media thinks about his business.

Those under 45 are likely to drive a BMW, are more family-oriented and less company-loyal than their older counterparts, have a working partner or one who owns her own business, use mobile phones (not always hands-free), are into mobile technology and total use of the Internet, have both desktops and laptops and are not so concerned about the media.

Almost one in five has an MBA, MA or MBS and 40 per cent have some other postgraduate qualification. But 54 per cent have no languages apart from English and Irish, although 46 per cent claim another language, usually French or German, with 2 per cent speaking Japanese.

These are the results of a survey carried out by KPMG Consultants in an attempt to provide a snapshot of business leaders. "This is a first glance at the people who underpin the Celtic tiger. We're not suggesting that this is some major psychological study," Mr Shane Holland, marketing director of KPMG Consultants explained. Companies were chosen from the Business and Finance Top 1,000 companies and interviews were conducted by phone.

In both age groups, the majority is male: of 200 chief executives, chairmen, managing directors, deputy chief executives and board members contacted, only two females were among the 100 respondents.

Regardless of age, business leaders work hard. The average working week is 51 hours but 16 per cent say they work more than 60 hours. One-third work on Saturdays or Sundays but the under-45s are more disciplined, with 27 per cent claiming that weekends are off-limits. Not surprisingly, they dislike the sacrifice of personal, home and family life. But while the under-45s spend 49 per cent of their leisure time with their families, compared with 16 per cent for the over-45s, the younger executives say, given the choice, they would spend just 25 per cent of their time en famille.

While 83 per cent of the under-45s prefer to conduct business and entertain in the office, only 5 per cent of the older group does. Restaurants are favoured by 69 per cent of the older group and golf clubs by 17 per cent. Only 6 per cent of the younger group uses restaurants. They tend to dress conservatively, with 75 per cent wearing suits to work, 17 per cent tailored, 44 per cent off-the-peg and 14 per cent designer.