
Becoming a CEO - dsr12
http://schoolofherring.com/2019/12/29/one-day-i-will-be-a-ceo/
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irjustin
While I love this article for what it stands for, it's like school vs the real
world.

It quantifies what we... or at least I, personally want in my CEO. Someone who
cares, takes responsibility, leads, knows the product, intelligent, listens.

They exist for sure, but they far and few between.

Reality, it appears, the driving north star/metric of CEOs and aspiring ones
is making money for the business. If you can consistently do that, you will
move up and have the best shot. Any cost - legal edges blur-able.

Sadly, that's not what necessarily makes the best CEOs or even good for the
business long term. I think we're seeing this play out with Boeing right now.

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internet_user
You should read that gervais principle from ribbonfarm.

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jcims
I’m curious what other folks on HN find appealing, if anything, about becoming
CEO. Personally it seems like a queen honey bee role, which sounds awesome at
first but once you get a closer look you see its more like slavery to
production, whithering externalities and merciless judgement.

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tim333
CEOs in general get an unfair share of the money and acclaim. Also you get to
be in charge kinda. I mean look at the wework guy as an extreme example -
largely trashes the company and walks with $2bn or so.

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solveit
Starting your argument with "in general" and following up with a self-
admittedly extreme example is... not good argumentation. The fact that
Softbank threw money away in a rather spectacular fashion doesn't at all speak
to whether typical CEO compensation is fair.

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rubidium
Public service announcement: Crummy, superficial article. Don’t waste your
time.

The gervais principle article is far more helpful.

~~~
flipactual
Here’s the link [https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-
principle-...](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-
the-office-according-to-the-office/)

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dangus
The article forgot to mention the most important skill required for being a
CEO - already knowing members of the elite class.

There is very little chance of the vast majority of people of going from IC or
even middle management to CEO, let alone other “elite” titles like VP or
Director. These are folks that live in the _social_ sphere of power, not just
being effective enough to be promoted to the top in the mythical meritocracy.

An example: Bill Gates didn’t get such a sweet deal with IBM by walking in the
door and demonstrating gumption. His mother served on the United Way board
with the chair of IBM. Bill Gates came from a wealthy family that already knew
the right people.

The elites who could possibly give me a chance as CEO or VP don’t talk to me
enough to even know whether I’m qualified and/or if I exist. It’s not like we
run into each other at the country club or the marina.

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harryh
The goal isn't to get a magical promotion from IC to VP because some "elite"
"gave you a chance." It doesn't work that way. Really you have two options if
your goal is to run a large organization:

1) Climb the ladder. IC -> Manager -> Senior Manager -> Director -> VP
(precise steps will vary by company). You only have to impress your boss and
maybe their boss at each step along the path. You should have plenty of
opportunities to do so.

2) Go work for a small company that gets bigger. There are a lot fewer steps
to the top at a small company. And then, if it goes well, it will grow under
you. The extreme example of this is to found your own company. You'll be the
boss from day one. Of course then you'll have to convince other people to come
work for you. Which isn't easy.

Neither of these paths have much of anything to do with country clubs or
marinas.

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Spooky23
Usually #1 hits a glass ceiling at the Director or VP level. #2 is also risky
as the investors often tend to ditch the early leadership, and those folks
leave with some equity.

There’s a good reason for this — there’s a point when your ability to perform
some functions is less important than political savvy. It’s hard to be a
political player without friends. The people who survive in scenario 1 and 2
have the savvy or are good at maintaining control.

The scenario that you’re missing is the tour at a high end consulting firm,
followed by senior level appointment and advancement from there. That world is
very much shaped limited social networks and mutual self interest. The jobs
don’t get posted on LinkedIn.

The political world is very similar, except paying dues in the political
machinery substitutes for education, as power is derived a little differently.

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harryh
_#2 is also risky as the investors often tend to ditch the early leadership_

Significantly less true now than it used to be. And significantly less common
in engineering than in other disciplines. A detailed knowledge of the codebase
is an incredibly valuable skill for a technical leader. An outsider will take
years (if ever they ever do) to build up the knowledge that someone there from
the beginning already has.

