When, at age 24, I told my boss (somewhat tongue in cheek)that I wanted to become a CEO, he nearly fell off his chair. It was
1974; I was a software developer working for IBM.
At that time, lowly engineers were not expected to aspire
to roles reserved for successful salespeople.
But my boss’guidance helped me take a hard look
at myself and make becoming the CEO a real objective.
I eventually achieved my goal 30 years later at Business Objects,
but it took a lot of careful planning, as well as focus
and determination. Content Continues Below Today, the path to becoming a CEO can look very different, particularly within tech and internet startups. But the skills required to be an effective leader are the same as ever.
These skills typically take a life of experience to
acquire, but there are ways to overcome that time challenge. Here are three things you should do to qualify as CEO material,
even if you are short on life experience -- but still big on
energy and bold ideas:
1. Build a team to compensate for your
shortcomings.
Even a seasoned executive needs a sounding board of
people who can offer guidance, particularly
for areas that fall outside his or her core expertise. For young leaders, this is essential, to avoid serious
mistakes. Lack of experience can lead to very
painful consequences: hiring the wrong people, spending too much money, getting stuck with bad contract terms, or falling afoul of the law -- to name just a few. Consider the example of
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook:
He drives the products, while she is the more business-oriented person. They complement each other with their skills, and
work together to achieve a common goal of building a
successful company. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (both 25 years old when they founded the company)
brought in a more experienced Eric Schmidt so that they could gain management depth before taking over in their
own right. When building your leadership team, then, don’t
look for people who are exactly like you. Find those
who can round you out and challenge you to grow.
2. Use the power of positive -- and negative -- thinking.
If you are launching a business when you are still
in your 20s -- without scars from past challenges -- you will have some advantages and many disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is the lack of a track record,
which a potential investor might want to use to
evaluate your probability of success. This can be overcome only by spending many hours selling your idea to as many people
as will listen to it.
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