How To Become a CEO Without Working Your Way Up
Written by
Brooke Barley
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Long gone are the days of working your way up from the mailroom to become a CEO at the same company. Instead, we’re living in an era of “CEO factories,” where certain companies will look to make leaders out of recent business school graduates through training programs. The major CEO factories used to be business giants like GE and IBM, but now new types of companies are rising up as the origin story for CEO’s, and that’s consulting firms.
According to Bloomberg, this shift to consulting firms is due to a desire for different skills and types of leaders. CEOs today need to have the hard problem-solving skills with the soft skills that build a good company culture. They are also putting their CEO trainees in charge of departments and immediately giving them the job experience that a traditional CEO track might take decades to accumulate.
Is working at a consulting firm the only way to be a CEO these days? It’s one track, but it’s not the only one. Read on to see what experts had to say about how one can become a CEO without starting from the bottom.
Work at a ‘CEO Factory’ Consulting Firm
Getting a job at a consulting firm is still a strong path to becoming a CEO. In addition to the reasons listed above, executive leadership strategist Stacie Selise Shannon emphasized the diverse, high-stakes tasks trainees are exposed to and how this sets them up for success in the workforce.
“These leaders are already fluent in building high-trust relationships and managing enterprise-level change, making them natural fits for the CEO seat,” Shannon said. “Consulting firms also create a culture of continuous learning, which aligns well with the evolving demands of today’s marketplace.”
However, Jared Navarre, founder of Keyni Consulting, pointed out that acting as a CEO and actually becoming one are two very different things.
“Consultants are trained to drop into chaos, distill complexity and present clarity,” Navarre explained. “It makes them feel CEO-ready, even if they’ve never run a team or scaled a product. That fits a world driven more by abstraction and influence than execution.”
Build Your Own Company
Another method to becoming a CEO is to start a venture from the ground up. This can be advantageous because if you’re starting your own business, you’re most likely very passionate about the product. That deep interest in the outcome will fuel you to find ways to solve the myriad of tasks and challenges that come your way.
Robin Westerling, CEO of Longvadon, recommended that anyone who wants to become a CEO take the leap and start their own business, even if it’s hard at first.
“If you want to start your own business you need to be resilient, persevering, disciplined, and hard working,” Westerling said. “If your life and professional experience have given you these attributes, I encourage you to start your own business and be your own CEO.”
Make Strategic Career Leaps
If you’re not interested in working at a consulting firm and don’t have the desire to start your own company, Shannon suggested working at a variety of companies to become seasoned. You’ll develop an arsenal of effective problem-solving across several industries.
“Rather than climbing a single corporate ladder, some leaders jump between industries and organizations. These strategic moves build a rich portfolio of transformation and innovation, which can fast-track them to the top,” Shannon noted.
Become an Interim CEO
An interim CEO is like a summer abroad in leadership. It’s not permanent, but you’ll experience all the responsibilities as if it were. This can be very impressive on a resume when looking to take over as a CEO full-time.
“Temporary executive roles during moments of change can build a track record of impact and pave the way for permanent CEO appointments,” Shannon said.
Join a Board
Shannon said working as the head of a board for an organization you’re passionate about can give you a taste of CEO life.
“Getting involved at the board level or on advisory councils exposes professionals to high-level governance and decision-making, often serving as a launchpad to CEO roles.”
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