You are wondering what you can do to become managing director or how to become CEO in a big company? Gabriel Goldbrain gives you the answer!
In your journey to becoming the managing director or CEO of a major corporation, education plays a crucial role. While a business administration degree can provide a solid foundation, it's not the only path – technical or engineering degrees can also be valuable in certain industries. Regardless of your educational background, understanding fundamental business concepts is essential, if you are wondering how to become CEO.
To propel your career towards executive leadership and for a fast career progression, focus on gaining exposure in leadership roles within a big organization so you get promoted fast, this is a way how to become CEO. Opt for generalist roles, such as plant manager, operations manager, regional manager, or business unit lead, to develop leadership skills and get promoted fast.
Being close to the company's headquarters is advantageous for a fast career progression, as it offers opportunities to interact with decision-makers, get promoted fast and build a strong network. Consider moving on to other companies or departments if your current position doesn't align with your career goals after 2 to 3 years, if you don’t get promoted fast enough, because stagnating is not how to become CEO.
Maintaining the right attitude is paramount for a fast career progression, if you are curious about how to become CEO, or become managing director and get promoted fast. Cultivate a positive image by being proactive, solving problems, and having a can-do attitude. Focus on building a high-quality career network by engaging in cross-functional projects, attending corporate events, and organizing activities that involve leaders from different departments, for a fast career progression.
Lastly, if you have the expertise and experience, creating your own company could be the safest path to becoming a managing director or CEO. However, this should be undertaken with careful consideration and industry knowledge. Alternatively, joining a promising team within your current company or a startup can also get you a fast career progression.
So, how to become CEO? Remember, it's essential to adapt, stay open to new opportunities, and continually build and maintain a strong professional network to achieve your goal of becoming managing director or CEO.
Video transcript:
In this video, we will discuss what you can do to become the managing director or CEO of a big company.
Before we start, I'm Gabriel Goldbrain, and my mission is to bring graduates into jobs that pay $100,000 US plus straight out of college. If you're interested, visit my website www.gabrielgoldbrain.com.
So today, let's talk about how you can become the managing director of a big corporation or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.A good education often is the basis for becoming a successful manager and eventually becoming a CEO of a big corporation. It will help you if you had some business administration courses at college or university because then you know the basic things like a balance sheet, a profit and loss statement, some accounting rules which are crucial to running a business. To become a CEO or a successful manager does not always require that you studied business administration. You can have a technical or an engineering degree as well, and in certain industries, you won't get anywhere if you only have a business administration degree. So if a specific industry is full of engineers, it's pretty unlikely that you become a CEO without being an engineer. So it also depends on the industry you're planning a successful career in.
The key thing is that you have a basic understanding of business. You must know what a balance sheet is, what the profit and loss statement is, how to read a cash flow statement, and also fundamentals of accounting and tax will help you to become a successful manager. Also, you should know key operating metrics so that you have a broad knowledge of things that are required for running a successful business. If you did not graduate in a business degree, you have to read about all these fundamentals in your free time, or you simply do an MBA to get these skills.
If you have the educational background, I have six things for you to look for.First, in a big organization, go for expos positions. That means you should work a career towards a leadership role. That means specialist roles are way less suitable to become a CEO because they lack the leadership aspect. Go for leadership roles. So your ultimate goal, if you're, for instance, working in an operational environment, should be becoming a plant manager, an operations manager. These are roles which are highly interesting. Don't become the super technical engineer who knows all the details. You should go for general roles where you have leadership exposure. Other interesting roles maybe a regional manager, maybe a business unit lead, maybe a leader in the strategy department. Everything which is more of a generalist role. So I think I wouldn't expect if you're like a tax specialist that's a hard place to become a CEO or if you're like an SAP specialist for something that usually are not roles which end up in a leadership or a CEO role.
The second thing to consider is to be close to the headquarters. If you start your career somewhere in the periphery of a company, maybe in a local branch of a big corporation, you should try to quickly move to the headquarters because in the periphery, it may be pretty hard to become a CEO unless you have a realistic chance to become the general manager for the region. So why should you be working close to the headquarters or at the headquarters of a company? It's pretty clear because all the decisions are being made there. All the decision-makers, they come there every now and then. So that means you may get exposure to very senior guys early in your career if you work in the headquarters. So try to do a good job. Try to build a network in the headquarters so that you get a good reputation. Go for responsibility. Take over tasks which are challenging, which will take and consume a lot of time, which are hard, which not everyone likes to do. Go for these. And if people at the headquarters see that you can handle these tasks, they may think, "Okay, he's talented. He's motivated." So we give him more, and you're automatically, if things come up on seniors' minds, they may think of you. Make them think of you with the quality of your work because that will generate opportunities for you to become a leader very early in your career. Being close to the headquarters may also be possible as a non-employee. Maybe you are working at the headquarters or with a C-level or a senior management level as a business consultant. Seize the opportunity, build a network, build good relationships with the people you meet in the headquarters, with the C-level guys you're working with. They must have a good impression of you and must like you. So that will produce opportunities. Maybe one day you get a call from a former client you worked for as a business consultant, and they will ask you to join their company as a manager, which is your next step to becoming a CEO maybe in the future 5 10 years down the road. Seize these opportunities. By the way, if you're planning to become a management consultant, I developed the Goldbrain success training. This training will facilitate your way into management consulting. If you're interested, visit my website gabrielgoldbrain.com.
Here comes my tip number three. Be flexible. Switch companies if you can get a good position somewhere else. Don't stick. Don't be loyal to a company where you're not getting anywhere after 2 to 3 years. You should have your first promotion. Otherwise, it may be a good thing to think about moving on to another company, moving on to another department. You should always measure a company by what it delivers to you. So if the company does not deliver on your career, you got to change something. So move on if you get the impression that you're stuck, that the department you're working in is not relevant.
Tip number four is to have the right attitude. So wherever you work, make it clear that you're willing to go the extra mile, that you're motivated, that you want to progress, that you want to achieve the next level, that you take over responsibility, that you want to lead other people, that you want to guide other people, that you organize workshops, that you're a problem solver. That's what your boss will like and what will give you a promotion if there is a chance. Be the number one on your boss's mind when it comes to filling vacant positions. Have a can-do attitude. There is nothing worse than people explaining why things won't work out. Be the one to make things work, be the one to get obstacles out of the way, and you have everything what it takes to be the hottest candidate for the next available promotion in your department. And as I said before, if there are no interesting positions on the horizon, if there are no elderly dudes retiring but holding interesting positions, you may be in the wrong place, and you should change the department or even the company if you can't move on, if you can't progress.
Number five, maintain a high-quality career network. This means do not only go to lunch with your own department. Maybe join colleagues from another department so you get to know other leaders, you build your network. Work on cross-functional projects, projects which not only involve your own department but which involve other departments and teams so you get exposure, you build track record. Participate or even better, engage in organizing corporate events because you will have to align these with the leadership, with the leaders. So you can more easily build a network. People who are most known or known by most others are those organizing events. Most of the C seniors know these people. If there is the opportunity to organize or to participate in a corporate run, for instance, or a corporate marathon, participate in it because that's your chance for talking informally to the leaders, to build relationships, personal relationships. The same is for a Christmas dinner or for other social events that are happening at the company. It's mandatory for you to attend. Don't stick with your team. Talk to others, small talk. And if you're really ambitious, you should be prepared for such events. Maybe you have an idea, a good idea for some project between two departments. And then, why not approach informally the head of this other department? Maybe it's the sales department where you can say, "Listen, I have a good idea how we could upsell certain products into one of our biggest customers. May I have 10 or 15 minutes sometime next week at your office so we can discuss this idea?" This can be a wonderful icebreaker. So this can kickstart a cooperation between two departments or it can even kickstart a project. And maybe you will be asked to lead it. For sure, you must be careful not to piss off your own boss. So you could either talk to him about that idea beforehand as well or if you really feel stuck, just don't care about it too much. So go ahead and build the relations that bring you further, that can advance your career. And don't forget one thing. So if you maybe change the company or you changed the department already, still keep contacts to important persons in your life. So maintaining your social network after you switch companies can also be very valuable. Use LinkedIn or similar platforms to stay in touch and see where people are moving, where they are going. If you studied at the business school or if you were awarded a scholarship or at your university, there may be alumni events. Attend these because there may be guys who already had a stellar career year, and they know you well. So they might be able to offer you a highly attractive position so you can move on in the career L more quickly than in your current organization. Seize these opportunities, and don't ignore alumni events.
Finally, number six, and this is the safest way to becoming a managing director or a CEO, create your own company. But for sure, you should only do it with a certain experience in a certain field. Maybe you already have work experience of two to 10 years or something like that, and then you feel it's time that in this industry you start your own business. You will have the best prospects if you go it that way. Don't do it straight out of college. You may also join a promising team. So maybe there is a team in your company that creates a spin-off, and they are looking for someone with your skill set. Join them early because then if they're really successful and it's a winning team, the company will become big very quickly, and you may be in a very responsible position soon.
I summarized all what I said on this PowerPoint slide. Download it from my website gabrielgoldbrain.com.
If you want to sell your achievements in the best light, watch my video on the SCR method. And if you're ever planning to become a management consultant, watch my video on McKinsey Career entry points. Like this video and share this video with your friends.
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