Every organization needs a leader. Motorcycle gangs have (officially and unofficially) designated leaders, as do Red Cross workers. Children on school playgrounds follow the leader. Even dogs follow a leader of their pack.
In business, you have lots of leaders (Manager, VP, CFO, etc.) but the “top dog” above them all is the CEO. At the end of the day, it’s the CEO who leads his or her company forward, for good or for bad.
No one takes the same path to being a CEO. Regardless of your current position, you can grow your career and experience the benefits of being a CEO. Someone is going to lead the charge in your company: it might as well be you.
Regardless of your current position, you can grow your career and experience the benefits of being a CEO. Someone is going to lead the charge in your company: it might as well be you. Click To TweetBenefits Of Being A CEO
My expertise is to help people who aspire to the CEO role to think and act like effective ones do. But sometimes people say to me, “I’m not sure I want to be a CEO.” My response: “What! Why not? That’s the best job in the company!”
Being the person in charge — the leader — is a lot bigger rush than base-jumping. It’s never boring and always challenging. It’s awesome.
Over many conversations with hundreds of CEOs, I asked why being the leader in the enterprise is a good gig. They told me that as CEO you have the best chance of any job in the organization to do the following:
11 Benefits of Being A CEO
- You can turn things around and make things happen.
- You get to make a difference.
- You can select the people you work with (instead of being told who your boss and coworkers will be)..
- You can actually do something about the problems you complain about.
- You get to make your own decisions.
- You can minimize doing things that you think are stupid.
- You are able to do what you think is right.
- You can choose the chances you’re going to take.
- You get to make decisions that can make the world a better place. (You can use your influence and resources for your choice of initiative: world hunger, malaria, humanitarian relief, global peace, fighting corruption, and so forth.)
- You make more money (to give away if you want).
- And you control your own destiny.
Surely there are several benefits of being a CEO that appeal to you, if not all of them! So what is holding you back from pursuing the CEO job?
"Being the person in charge — the leader — is a lot bigger rush than base-jumping. It’s never boring and always challenging. It’s awesome." @debrabenton on the 11 Benefits Of Being A CEO. Click To TweetWhy Don’t More People Go For The CEO Position?
The truth is that achieving CEO status may seem like a pipe dream. It’s risky to dream that big.
Rather than take that risk we act like we don’t want it. One psychologist told me, “Everyone wants to be a chief, but most feel it’s unrealistic, so they turn it around and act like they don’t want it anyway. But they wouldn’t turn it down if offered.”
If it’s going to happen to someone, why not you? You may feel hesitant or even timid, but those feelings are not a good reason to stay stagnant.
If you don’t fight through timidity, you will have regrets. Few individuals look back on their lives and think, “Wow, I should have never tried for that bigger job.” But many will look back with regret:, “Why didn’t I have the guts to try for that bigger job?” Or, “Why didn’t I step it up?” “Why . . . … why . . . … why?”
If it’s competence or ability that concerns you, then you can stop wodrrying. You don’t have to be the company’s top record producer, an alumnus of the best B-school, or have the highest IQ. You can come from any walk of life. You can be tall, short, attractive, and not so attractive.
What matters is your willingness to go for the job and work hard for it.
So why not take the leap and go for the CEO job?
Go For The CEO Job!
You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be a CEO, but you do have to work on being CEO material before you get the job. Working on your leadership skills before you get the job helps you get there, causes them to see you in the CEO role, and increases your chance of success while in the job.
If you’re going to work anyway, you might as well go for the top job. I say, “If it’s not going to happen in your company, go to another company, or start your own!”
A CEO friend of mine said, “I figured I’m as smart as others running the show plus I didn’t like busting my a** as a good soldier and corporate stooge for someone else. I decided to be the boss that I always wanted to have.”
What’s cool is that you can homeschool yourself on being a leader instead of waiting for any big organization’s institutional rigor to click in. In fact, you can’t wait. Starting today, take on your own authority to think and act like the owner, the top boss, the CEO; do it regardless of your current job and title. Prepare before you leap, but then have the guts to actually leap.
Do it for yourself, your family, your career, your future, your organization, your team, your life, and your legacy.
You will work harder than you ever have in your life, and it will be worth it.
If you are on a path to be CEO, don’t go it alone. I have years of experience coaching successful CEOs in all industries. Contact me about a long-term coaching relationship or book me for a Bite-Size Executive Coaching session today. (And if you don’t use me, find someone else. Coaching works!)