The 4 Steps to Becoming CEO:

1. Work on your financial knowledge – Over 30% of CEOs from Fortune 500 companies spent time ensuring that they have a strong understanding of finance. When looking for a new CEO, companies valued those who could comprehend the financial repercussions of their business decisions.
 
2. Network with executive recruiters – This has always been an important part of any executive level job search or transition. Many executive opportunities, particularly for CEO, are not publically advertised; and so by working with executive search consultants, you can maximize your available career options and widen your search.
 
3. Get some board experience – Whether on a small non-profit board, or a large multi-national, board experience is seen as a highly important factor when pursuing the role of CEO. A reported 45% of Fortune 500 CEOs had prior board experience before receiving their promotion.
 
4. Find a company that suits Your CEO aspirations – In today’s job market, more that 75% of leaders are internally promoted to their leadership positions. Many companies feel that by hiring internally they are lowering the risk and ensuring that the new CEO fully understands the company’s culture. It takes an average of 16 years to become CEO from initial employment, with the average age of appointee being 50. By using these figures, we are able to deduce that for a typical future CEO, by 32 you should ideally be already employed by the company that you would one day like to lead. And if not, it you might want to consider a career move (see point 2).
 
Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule. The technology sector offers the quickest career progression and so the time taken to rise to CEO would be dramatically reduced. It is also worth noting that the industrial sector offers the slowest time frame for career progression.