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The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

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Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#81

Post by mk89 »

jstummbillig wrote: post #7
onion2k wrote: post #4

Something that has always surprised me a bit is how many developers want to run their own large companies. Wanting to run a small company is largely about personal freedom that comes for not having a boss, but wanting to be the head of a large business is a whole different ballgame. It's a role that encompasses strategy, leadership, and management - 3 things that can only really be done by talking to people and under…

> Something that has always surprised me a bit is how many developers want to run their own large companies. I am surprised at how few of them do, considering how low the barriers of entry to company making in tech are (compared to other industries with heavy requirements in space, equipment, expertise and regulations) So I am also surprised at your experience. Most devs I know just wanna code.

> So I am also surprised at your experience. Most devs I know just wanna code.

Same here. Never heard of any developer wanting to be CEO of a big company. Typically startup, yes, but that's mostly for "independence" and doing something cool, faster, etc.

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#82

Post by atom_arranger »

onion2k wrote: post #4

Something that has always surprised me a bit is how many developers want to run their own large companies. Wanting to run a small company is largely about personal freedom that comes for not having a boss, but wanting to be the head of a large business is a whole different ballgame. It's a role that encompasses strategy, leadership, and management - 3 things that can only really be done by talking to people and under…

I don't entirely want to be CEO, what I want is ultimate control over things I'm interested in, which is definitely not everything involved in being CEO.

If I say "no that would be bad, goes against my ethics, increases tech debt too much, bad for UX, etc." I don't want anybody to override me, even though generally decisions ultimately fall on the CEO.

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#83

Post by jaybrendansmith »

tamade wrote: post #75

"They do it by making bold career moves over the course of their career that catapult them to the top." "bold career moves", i.e., right place at the right time, a.k.a., dumb luck

Yup. Survivorship bias. For every one of those there are 10 who were in a) The wrong industry, b) The wrong business model, c) The wrong product, d) The wrong collaborators (you know, the ones that cannot be easily removed even if you wanted to.) So much luck involved. I equate it to bands, for every Beatles there are 100s of unsuccessful solo artists who started out every bit as talented as Paul & John. Eventually the really good ones do make it I think, but not the way they expected, and not as one of these CEO sprinters.

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#84

Post by mbrodersen »

onion2k wrote: post #4

Something that has always surprised me a bit is how many developers want to run their own large companies. Wanting to run a small company is largely about personal freedom that comes for not having a boss, but wanting to be the head of a large business is a whole different ballgame. It's a role that encompasses strategy, leadership, and management - 3 things that can only really be done by talking to people and under…

Agree. I was the CEO of a successful small business for 5+ years but realised that I didn’t enjoy it. I am much happier slinging code.

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#85

Post by adminscoffee »

___luigi wrote: post #70
onion2k wrote: post #4

Something that has always surprised me a bit is how many developers want to run their own large companies. Wanting to run a small company is largely about personal freedom that comes for not having a boss, but wanting to be the head of a large business is a whole different ballgame. It's a role that encompasses strategy, leadership, and management - 3 things that can only really be done by talking to people and under…

One book that helped me understand these challenges was "Hard things about hard things". I recommend/gift the book to any (engineer) friend who is burning to start his own business. It's a different game. Even Sr. Engineer is a different game than coding, we spend some time on System design, mentoring, presenting technical outcomes of our work/PoCs, writing new product requirements, .. etc. I think these tasks requir…

hey thanks, i added this book to my libby always open to reading books related to this subject

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#86

Post by adminscoffee »

bserge wrote: post #46
WalterBright wrote: post #3

The fastest way is start your own company and name yourself CEO.

Ha, my first thought. And actually what I did when I formed my first company. I had two plastic cards designed, one for me as "CEO" and another as a press pass with me as "Chief Editor", which actually got me into some expos! Blogs were new and people didn't know how to treat these "online magazines" and "journalists". I even had people from big newspapers contact me with requests to use my online comments in their a…

i like your style. i use to do this at festivals. i would jump up on stage behind any band and pretend to be with the band. it worked. the following year i realized i could make an online magazine and become press, so i did and the next year i got in half price, press pass, and a table. wild ride

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#87

Post by faeyanpiraat »

tomp wrote: post #52
faeyanpiraat wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a study about some skill, and like 80% of people thought they are better than average.

People often repeat this (also in different contexts, e.g. driving skills) as a "proof" that most people don't know math. In fact, it's the other way around - a proof that the person suggesting this doesn't know math. If 80% are skilled at 1 and 20% are skilled at -100, then most are better than average. Or: Imagine a room of people. Bill Gates walks into that room. Most people are now below-average wealthy.

Median it is then.

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#88

Post by xelxebar »

nojito wrote: post #79
ickelbawd wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not true. If you only look at CEOs you won’t be able to tell which behaviors are unique to CEOs and which are not. If you don’t eliminate these potentially universal traits and behaviors you’re setting yourself up to be be wrong due to biased data. More generally: how can you possibly understand what something is without understanding also what it is not?

It doesn’t matter. You’re trying to solve the problem of what makes a CEO. Because no one is a born a CEO. The idea that you need to study 2B people to get at that is absolutely nonsense.

Okay. I only look at CEOs and find that tha vast majority have 2 arms. Can we therefore conclude that having 2 arms is key to making someone a CEO?

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#89

Post by karxxm »

mettamage wrote: post #53
karxxm wrote: post #50

I would like to become a CEO, a TLDR of this text would help me here :)

It’s a 5 minutes read

This was meant to be a joke.. The title is "The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, ..." and a TLDR would be even faster! :)

Re: The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, According to a 10-Year Study (2018)

#90

Post by mettamage »

karxxm wrote: post #89
mettamage wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a 5 minutes read

This was meant to be a joke.. The title is "The Fastest Path to the CEO Job, ..." and a TLDR would be even faster! :)

Ah, haha, clever!

I missed that one O:)

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