What To Expect On Your Journey To Becoming A CEO [Infographic]

Being the CEO of a large company must be like being the President of a small country. Effective CEOs have mastered the delicate balance of leadership, hard work and innovation. Many people set their sights on becoming a CEO from a young age, but what does that journey look like? What should future CEOs prepare themselves for along the way to becoming a CEO? There are two different routes to take in order to make that dream of yours come true.

One way is to start your own business and appoint yourself as the CEO. The most famous example of this can be seen in an article called 11 Famous Business Cards That Became Legendary. I’m of course talking about Mark Zuckerberg’s now famous business card that simply read, “I’m CEO, Bitch.”

The other route to becoming a CEO is the more traditional path with an established company. On that journey, there is quite a grooming process that most CEOs have experienced before they finally achieved that position. Both of these roads lead to the same place, and both are well respected. One isn’t better than the other, but if you choose the more traditional route, this infographic is for you.

It’s called Keys To The Corner Office, and it was created by CEO.com. It breaks down the process of becoming a CEO into 3 steps which include education, experience and grooming. It’s interesting to note that the average age of a CEO at the time of appointment is 50 years old, and that’s of course after years and years of preparation, experience and working up through the ranks. If you take the non-traditional route to becoming a CEO which we already mentioned, you’ll get there a lot faster, but there is more risk involved. As always, there are pros and cons to both. You just have to decide which is best for you.