The career path to becoming a CEO is not orthodox. To become the captain who will lead the company and its crew, there is a natural growth dynamic that must be undertaken so that this professional develops the necessary skills to connect with and inspire the teams, guiding them according to the desired objectives. But, the big question that ambitious people for this position ask is: what is the best way to reach this role? And what other experiences do they need to have to contribute to this journey?
Many studies indicate that a large part of current CEOs previously held the position of CFO. Indeed, this is a highly competitively advantageous position towards the role of CEO, and it is usually the most logical path to achieve it.
The Chief Financial Officer is the one who usually has the "key to the vault" of the companies. He oversees the commercial area of the project, internal projects, and maintains important banking relationships for the company's economic health. Because of handling responsibilities more sensitive to business operations and having access to highly relevant internal information, it makes them, consequently, one of the professionals with the highest credibility and internal penetration when compared to other executives.
Since they have a more technical bias in their responsibilities, they are usually surrounded by strategic people from other areas (commercial, marketing, sales, etc.) to assist them in progressing to the CEO position – all of these characteristics justify the greater predominance of predecessor CFOs over the Chief Executive Officer.
However, although this dynamic tends to prevail and is the most "natural" in the market, it is not a strict scientific process to be followed, nor does it exclude other people from different areas from reaching this position. In practice, those who wish to follow this path must worry, far beyond developing precise technical skills, about improving as a leader of people and processes, having the ability to inspire and deliver in order to advance over time to more senior positions, transitioning from a vertical professional to a transversal one.
After all, a good CEO should have a strategic and detailed vision of all areas of the company. Even without extensive knowledge and depth in all areas, you will need to see the whole with intelligence and know how to make things happen. Yes, in addition to surrounding yourself with strategic people who assist you in making decisions, whom you trust to better understand everything happening internally so that you know what to do in order to improve the results achieved.
The prominence of the CEO position is undeniable as one of the most coveted roles in the job market in terms of career progression. Although for a long time it was only seen as a position that would bring enormous bonuses to its occupants, today these references also bring and elucidate its burdens – not only in terms of responsibility but also in the loneliness of occupying it, regarding decision-making and its relevance to corporate progression and prosperity.
This greater clarity, although it also caused many people to strongly cease desiring to hold this position, was an extremely positive movement to awaken individual self-reflection about what they want in their professional paths.
For those aspiring to become a CEO, it is essential to clearly understand the complexities of the responsibilities of this position so that, when faced with any crossroads, they do not tend to abandon ship but instead have resilience and persistence to overcome difficulties and propel the company forward in its segment. Yes, indeed, a solitary chair, but for those who truly wish to accept the challenge, it can bring exceptional advantages to their reputation in the market.
