Becoming a CEO may be your dream and conjure up images of power and wealth.
The reality though, is sometimes very different.
CEO Job Description
The CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is usually regarded as the ‘top person’ in an organization. In very small companies the CEO may also be the company owner as well as performing a large number of other roles including menial tasks.
In such a role you’re unlikely to feel vastly powerful, rich or important!
In medium to larger companies, the CEO is typically the person responsible for making the major investment and business management decisions. They will also often run the executive board and have a significant degree of control over the hiring and firing of other executives.
In very large and publicly owned companies, the CEO’s role may have rather less autocratic authority. As part of good governance and audit, there may be a company chairman (increasingly referred to as chairperson) that may act as a check and control over the CEO and executive board. In such cases the CEO and chairperson will be held accountable to the shareholders and where appropriate, the regulatory authorities.
In most companies, large or small, the CEO is also held accountable by employees for the ultimate success of failure of the enterprise though this is rarely formalized in company statutes.
In publicly owned companies the CEO is frequently the subject of media interest and speculation – much of which is often incorrect and sometimes purely malicious.
CEO Salaries
As a CEO your earnings will depend upon a number of factors including:
- Your state and city location (there are large variations across the USA);
- The industry sector you operate within (e.g. pharmaceuticals, aerospace etc);
- Your experience in terms of years served as a CEO;
- The size of the budget you control and the numbers of personnel employed;
- Your overall industry knowledge;
- Your success (in recent years a highly controversial subject).
Your salary may comprise a basic income plus a performance related package and ancillary benefits – though those latter ‘perks’ are more commonly found in major corporate concerns.
Your total benefits package could run from something totaling a few tens of thousands of dollars in a very small company up to several millions in major corporate enterprises.
CEO Certification, Exams & Qualification
Strange as it may sound, there are no formal qualification requirements to become a CEO.
Many small and even some medium-sized companies have executives that have little by way of formal academic qualifications. They have learned the business ‘bottom-up’ and have progressed up the career ladder by expertise and sheer hard work.
However, although not entirely unknown, it is now becoming rare to find CEOs in major enterprises that are not very well and formally qualified.
In general, the vast majority of large company CEOs will have:
- A relevant degree from a recognized college or university;
- A post-graduate qualification – typically in accounting;
- Very possibly a master’s degree in business administration or similar.
At one time the CEO would also have been expected to be an expert in the business specifics – so the CEO of an engineering company would have been expected to be a qualified engineer. This is now becoming more rare and higher emphasis is placed on general business management skills.
Study Guides
Studying to become a CEO isn’t possible in the same way as you would to become a doctor. There is no degree in “CEO-ing”.
To stand a chance of becoming the CEO of a major company, you’ll need to start off doing well right back in high school. After that you’ll need to get a good degree and preferably go on to a recognized masters program at one of the major business schools (and / or secure a good accountancy qualification).
After getting all the embossed papers, you’ll then need to get a management position in a given industry and try to work your way up the ladder to executive level so as to get experience. It is extremely rare to walk directly out of even one of the top business schools into a major CEO position.
It’s worth keeping in mind that some universities and business schools (e.g. Harvard) continue to be regarded as being more prestigious on the résumé than others.
As a final tip – we live in a global business world. Many larger companies like to have a CEO that has some overseas working experience and, where possible, a second language. Trying to spend a gap year working abroad won’t do your chances any harm at all.
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