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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)

#51

Post by mjburgess »

aomobile wrote: post #40

The “i regret becoming a manager” theme gets repeated often and I don’t know about you guys but I go to work for the money, plain and simple. Sure coding is pleasurable (I’d do it for free as a hobby anyway) but if being ceo pays many times more, I’d just go for that if possible. Seems almost unreasonable not to desire that job over a coding position..

Well, have you done both?

Do you actually go to work for the money? Or is it more that given your work is broadly fun (, easy for you, etc.) -- that then you focus on money?

What do you think would happen if the work was more challenging than you could manage, wasn't fun, etc. -- would the money then appear as sufficient?

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

#52

Post by tomp »

faeyanpiraat wrote: post #22
Aeolun wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t covet the role. I just feel I’d be marginally better than others that suck at it.

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.

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

#54

Post by tomp »

gyulai wrote: post #8

I don't see anything much that's non-obvious here. - Go small to go big = It's easier to be CEO in a smaller company. Kind of obvious. - Inherit a Big Mess = It's easier to be CEO in a situation where nobody wants to be CEO. Kind of obvious, too. - Make a big leap = Take risky bets, in which case you're not represented in the sample of CEOs when they don't play out.

You're misinterpreting the article.

The "go small to go big" thing isn't about being a CEO of a small company.

It's about taking over a small project, growing it successfully, then using that experience & reference to launch yourself into the CEO position of a large company.

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

#55

Post by mettamage »

Yes, there may be survivorship bias. But I also think there is no “safe fast way” to become a CEO.

When I look at traders and investors, I see the same thing. Most of them are a result of being very lucky and aggressive. Only a few of them actually did it without much luck (e.g. Simmons).

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

#56

Post by nojito »

xelxebar wrote: post #15

What about the losers? Please fill in this table first, then we can talk about the whys and hows: | # sprinters | # non-sprinters | --------+----------------+-----------------+ CEO | | | --------+----------------|-----------------| non-CEO | | | --------+----------------+-----------------+ The "CEO Genome Project" home page looks just like promotion for a book. I guess you have to buy it before judging whether it off…

You don’t need to study non-ceos if you are trying to understand what a ceo is.

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

#57

Post by behindsight »

avip wrote: post #47
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…

It's much more surprising that people equate "run a small company" with "freedom", when in every measurable way you're much freeer being a conformant employee in a good place.

Might be referring to the concept of a lifestyle business [0]

> A lifestyle business is a business set up and run by its founders primarily with the aim of sustaining a particular level of income and no more; or to provide a foundation from which to enjoy a particular lifestyle.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business

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

#60

Post by edanm »

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…

First, I think you're very wrong about how many devs want to run their own companies. Or at least, want it enough to make any step in that direction (just wanting it like wanting to win the lottery doesn't count for much, IMO).

Second, I also think you have a very common but incorrect view of what a developer even is. You write:

> Most developers who enjoy writing code run away from meetings given the slightest opportunity,

Most developers don't necessarily enjoy writing code. Some do, to be sure, but a lot view writing code as a means to an end. Sometimes that end is money; sometimes that end is to create products. And if what you want is money, or to create new products (or to have new experiences, or to have a fancy job title, etc), all of those are reasons to want to run a large company. (Not all of these are what I would consider good reasons, but they are reasons).

Secondly, you can really hate meetings when your job is to write code, but also would enjoy meetings when your job is no longer only about writing code. Forget running large companies - most people who get even a mid-level manager position will be busy in meetings for a large amount of their time, and will rarely if ever code, and this is considered a very desirable career path by many devs (though not all, to be sure).

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