How To Become A CEO

If only becoming a CEO were as easy as learning your ABCs. Alas, working your way up to top-dog status at a company — or even starting your own — takes a lot of hustle, strategic maneuvering, and buckets full of blood, sweat, and tears. But there are a few things that wannabe-CEOs can start doing today that will help them on the road to CEO success. If you’re an ambitious young up-start wondering how to become a CEO, consider these three strategies:

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks — Now

Being comfortable with taking calculated risks that result in BIG rewards is kind of what being a CEO is all about — and there’s no better time to start practicing your risk-taking than right now. Here’s why: Taking risks at this point in your career isn’t actually all that risky, since you (probably) don’t have a family to support, a mortgage, or other major concerns weighing you down. So if you’re ready to seek funding for a new tech product you’ve been developing or you want to move across the country for that dream job, go for it; your early career risks just might set you up for CEO success down the road.

Go Back to School

Bad news for the studying-adverse: More schooling is in most future CEOs’ futures. I know what you’re probably thinking: “But didn’t Mark Zuckerberg never even finish college?” Yes, but for every one tech-preneur who dropped out of undergrad, there are tons of CEOs who not only graduated college but hold an MBA, too. In his study of CEOs, management professor Christian Slater found that over 40 percent of CEOs had MBA degrees, and of those 40 percent, 60 percent earned their MBAs from an elite school. So not only does getting an MBA matter, but getting it from a school with lots of name recognition matters, too. That’s because when it come to MBA programs, who you make connections with is just as important as what you learn — and future CEOs will want to rub elbows with the ultra-well-connected at places like Harvard and Northwestern. But if you didn’t get your undergrad degree at an Ivy League, that’s okay; Slater reports that where you went for undergrad doesn’t have a whole lot of bearing on your future CEO status.

Mentor and Be Mentored

Want to become a big-shot businessman or woman? Then your best bet is to be mentored by the big shots in your company right now. Not only can finding a good mentor lead to important shared business lessons and strategies, but the right mentor can also help you move up the company ladder faster. This kind of mentorship is called “sponsorship,” where your mentor can help vouch for you for promotions or connect you with key stakeholders in the company who can help you advance your career. Keep in mind, though, that the kind of mentors capable of sponsorship-level support will typically be your higher-level executives and department heads, not junior-level managers.

And while finding a good mentor is key to getting on the path to CEO-hood, becoming a mentor yourself is also helpful. You might think you’re too young and inexperienced to be a mentor, but newer programs called “reverse mentorships” are gaining steam in top companies. In a reverse mentorship, a younger employee mentors an older executive in a topic the executive could use some coaching in, like new tech products or social media. Participating in a reverse mentorship pairing gives millennial employees the chance to impress the company C-suite with their knowledge, plus younger employees gain experience with taking charge in business relationships — which future CEOs definitely need to practice.

Nobody becomes a CEO overnight; years of networking, mentoring, and learning are what lead to CEO success. So start now if you want to see the title of “CEO” in your future!