Careers
From C-Suite to CEO
Assessing Your Fit
Self- Assessment
Self-assessment can be a process of reflection as well as utilizing assessment tools.
First, ask yourself important questions:- What is most important to me in this next stage of my career?
- What problems do I enjoy solving?
- What is my unique value proposition?
Then, utilize assessment tools available through your company, leadership transition firms, or the CEO Genome Project to provide further clarity on your suitability for a CEO role based on your personality, skills, values, motivators, leadership style, and needs.
Keep in mind that the CEO role is not right for everyone, and some who achieve this goal find that the responsibilities are not in line with what they enjoy doing most. Self-assessment coupled with external assessment of the market and the role, can provide that clarity and offer alternative paths forward better suited for your skills and interests. Examples include adding new dimensions to your current role or making a lateral move to another company.
External Assessment
To better understand the role of the CEO, speak with CEOs in your existing network about their work. Every CEO role will be different so getting a sense for the day to day in a public company versus a private company, or the differences in company stage and size is helpful. Biographies and LinkedIn profiles of CEOs can also give you a strong sense of their backgrounds as you seek to build your skills.
It’s also critical to assess the market. Get to know your industry or sector of interest broadly and deeply, familiarize yourself with the competitive landscape, and develop a point of view outside of your company. With that information, you can build a strong bridge between what you can offer and what the company needs.
Utilize Baker Library to find industry overviews and latest news and build your target list of companies. Connect directly with a Baker Librarian for support at infoservices@hbs.edu or access e-Baker databases.
Build Your Skills
If the CEO role is right for you, the next phase is building your core competencies to position yourself for consideration. Specifically, you will need to demonstrate general management and cross-functional leadership skills and perspective, operating experience (outside of your core function), and success in profit and loss responsibility management.
To build these skills consider these paths forward:
Ask, and Ask for More
Be transparent with your current CEO and Board Members about your career goals in order to gain insight into succession planning and obtain more exposure and responsibility.
Questions to Ask Your CEO or Board:- I‘ve been with the company in X role for Y years, how am I stacking up against my peers? Would I be considered for the CEO role in the future?
- I would like to be more involved in XYZ (examples include a merger integration, cross-functional team, liaising with the Board of Directors). Is there an opportunity for me to expand on my responsibilities?
- Are assessment tools available?
- Is executive coaching available?
Go Small to Go Big
A hallmark of those who have been successful in transitioning from C-Suite to CEO is that they have proven their ability to make an outsized impact on a business. To do that outside of your current role you can:
- Make a lateral move to a smaller company where you have more opportunity for cross-functional leadership.
- Taking a lower-level position to build direct experience in a function outside of your expertise.
- Volunteer to take on the turnaround of a troubled division to prove your impact.
Board Experience
A key part of the CEO role is interfacing with the Board of Directors. Seeking out and obtaining a Board role in another company can give you the exposure to Board governance, interactions, and dynamics that will set up for success as a CEO. This is also an excellent opportunity to expand your professional network and deepen your expertise in an industry, sector, company growth stage, etc.
Read more on Becoming a Board MemberMobilize Your Network
CEO roles will rarely be posted on a job board, instead they are managed by Executive Search Firms. Therefore, networking will be critical to your search.
Once you have identified the types of problems you are uniquely suited to solve and the industries or sectors you are most interested in contributing to, create your target list of organizations and do substantial research on each to understand their strategic initiatives and their competition. Then build connections with board members at those companies and with the appropriate Executive Search Firms so they know who you are and how you add value.
However, before you immediately reach out to a Partner at an Executive Search Firm or a board member at your target organization, be strategic.
- Identify the Executive Search Firms, and the Partners within those firms, who specialize in CEO searches for the types of companies most interesting to you.
- Inform your friends, classmates, and colleagues at a similar level of your interest in a CEO role and ask that they recommend you if they are contacted by Executive Search Firms. Referrals are the preferred way in.
- Seek out CEOs, board members, organizational leaders, and investors who could be helpful in your search. Then, develop a strategy to connect with them (through industry meetings, informal networks, LinkedIn, charitable organizations, etc.)
- Search for fellow alumni in the HBS Alumni Directory at Executive Search Firms and alumni with leadership roles at companies of interest.
From HBR
