CEOs tend to be people who have worked their way up through large organizations, unlike billionaire entrepreneurs or hedge fund managers.
I’ve worked under 9 CEOs at companies from very small to very large multinational. Of those, a grand total of TWO worked their way up; the rest all had business degrees and buddy connections and no actual experience working FOR a company. Most were hired via the buddy network because of their history of navigating stock exchanges.
Worth noting that the two CEOs who worked their way up were engineers. One was an EE who had absolutely no business acumen and so we made great products but tanked the company, and the other was a software engineer who also had a business degree and CTO experience and did a pretty good job overall.
The qualities that make one a good worker do not make for a good CEO. A good worker thinks the best way to make money is to produce better quality product or produce it more efficiently.
A good CEO thinks the best way to make money is to lay off quality control and use their salaries to buy up company stock to increase the stock price for shareholders knowing the increase is instantaneous while the problems caused by not having quality control anymore won’t be realized for months if not years. Even better if they can force employees who didn’t do quality control to now be responsible for it, on top of their regular duties, while receiving no additional pay.
Sold books out of his garage, became one of the richest people on earth.
Yes he worked hard to make his business grow, and took risks. But if that’s all it took to become a billionaire, most entrepreneurs would be billionaires. Nobody risks their life savings to start a business and doesn’t work hard.
CEOs are not smarter, harder working, or more qualified in any way than your average employee. It’s luck of the draw.
I think of CEOs as being like music or sports superstars: they need to be good at what they do AND be in the right place at the right time. And just like those other categories, “good at what they do” doesn’t always mean quite what you may think it should.
I’ve worked under 9 CEOs at companies from very small to very large multinational. Of those, a grand total of TWO worked their way up; the rest all had business degrees and buddy connections and no actual experience working FOR a company. Most were hired via the buddy network because of their history of navigating stock exchanges.
That’s pretty much it. As an engineer, I find the state of affairs demoralizing.
Worth noting that the two CEOs who worked their way up were engineers. One was an EE who had absolutely no business acumen and so we made great products but tanked the company, and the other was a software engineer who also had a business degree and CTO experience and did a pretty good job overall.
The qualities that make one a good worker do not make for a good CEO. A good worker thinks the best way to make money is to produce better quality product or produce it more efficiently.
A good CEO thinks the best way to make money is to lay off quality control and use their salaries to buy up company stock to increase the stock price for shareholders knowing the increase is instantaneous while the problems caused by not having quality control anymore won’t be realized for months if not years. Even better if they can force employees who didn’t do quality control to now be responsible for it, on top of their regular duties, while receiving no additional pay.
Bezos is a great example of a CEO.
Sold books out of his garage, became one of the richest people on earth.
Yes he worked hard to make his business grow, and took risks. But if that’s all it took to become a billionaire, most entrepreneurs would be billionaires. Nobody risks their life savings to start a business and doesn’t work hard.
CEOs are not smarter, harder working, or more qualified in any way than your average employee. It’s luck of the draw.
I think of CEOs as being like music or sports superstars: they need to be good at what they do AND be in the right place at the right time. And just like those other categories, “good at what they do” doesn’t always mean quite what you may think it should.
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