How to Become CEO

The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization

Jeffrey J. Fox

Publisher: Hyperion, 1998, 162 pages

ISBN: 0-7868-6437-0

Keywords: Management

Last modified: Aug. 5, 2021, 1:49 a.m.

In recent years, the CEO's position within the typical high-profile company has been receiving more media attention than ever before. The job and paycheck of a CEO can quickly turn a relatively unknown top-level manager into a powerful international business leader with celebrity status. But how do those people get so lucky? What's their secret? Employees and recent graduates everywhere are asking, How can I get ahead? How can I become CEO? This book has the answers.

In How to Become CEO consultant Jeffrey Fox has written an insightful handbook of traits to develop for all generations of CEO aspirants — or for anyone who wants to get ahead in today's business world. Open it to any page and find a short, provocative piece of brutally honest advice written in a conversational tone. Each of the seventy-five "rules" focuses on a specific action that should be taken, a trait that needs to be developed. or a prohibition to follow. The words never and always are used frequently. These are smart, no-nonsense business messages that are meant to be revisited in your rise to the top.

But don't think for a moment that this is a cynical book. Rather, it is one of hard-headed idealism that will empower you to develop the qualities that are required of leaders: vision, persistence, integrity, and respect for superiors, subordinates, peers. and self.

Anyone looking to climb the corporate ladder will be grateful for Fox's direct, pithy advice — the essentials to follow if you want to reach the top.

  1. Always Take the Job that Offers the Most Money
  2. Avoid Staff Jobs, Seek Line jobs
  3. Don't Expect the Personnel Department to Plan Your Career
  4. Get and Keep Customers
  5. Keep Physically Fit
  6. Do Something Hard and Lonely
  7. Never Write a Nasty Memo
  8. Think for One Hour Every Day
  9. Keep and Use a Special Idea Notebook"
  10. Don't Have a Drink with the Gang
  11. Don't Smoke
  12. Skip All Office Parties
  13. Friday is "How Ya' Doin'?" Day
  14. Make Allies of Your Peers' Subordinates
  15. Know Everybody by Their First Name
  16. Organize "One-Line Good-Job" Tours
  17. Make One More Call
  18. Arrive Forty-Five Minutes Early and Leave Fifteen Minutes Late
  19. Don't Take Work Home from the Office
  20. Earn Your "Invitation Credentials"
  21. Avoid Superiors When You Travel
  22. Eat in Your Hotel Room
  23. Work, Don't Read Paperbacks, on the Airplane
  24. Keep a "People File"
  25. Send Handwritten Notes
  26. Don't Get Buddy-Buddy with Your Superiors
  27. Don't Hide an Elephant
  28. Be Visible: Practice WACADAD
  29. Always Take Vacations
  30. Always Say "Yes" to a Senior Executive Request
  31. Never Surprise Your Boss
  32. Make Your Boss Look Good, and Your Boss's Boss Look Better
  33. Never Let a Good Boss Make a Mistake
  34. Go to the Library One Day a Month
  35. Add One Big New Thing to Your Life Each Year
  36. Study These Books
  37. "Dress for a Dance"
  38. Overinvest in People
  39. Overpay Your People
  40. "Stop, Look, and Listen"
  41. Be a Flag-Waving Company Patriot
  42. Find and Fill the "Data Gaps"
  43. Homework, Homework, Homework
  44. Never Panic…Or Lose Your Temper
  45. Learn to Speak and Write in Plain English
  46. Treat All People as Special
  47. Be a Credit Maker, Not a Credit Taker
  48. Give Informal Surprise Bonuses
  49. Please, Be Polite with Everyone
  50. Ten Things to Say That Make People Feel Good
  51. The Glory and the Glamour Come after the Gruntwork
  52. Tinker, Tailor, Try
  53. Haste Makes Waste
  54. Pour the Coals to a Good Thing
  55. Put the Importance on the Bright Idea, Not the Source of the Idea
  56. Stay Out of Office Politics
  57. Look Sharp and Be Sharp
  58. Emulate, Study, and Cherish the Great Boss
  59. Don't Go Over Budget
  60. Never Underestimate an Opponent
  61. Assassinate the Character Assassin with a Single Phrase
  62. Become a Member of the "Shouldn't Have Club"
  63. The Concept Doesn't Have to Be Perfect, but the Execution of It Does
  64. Record and Collect Your Mistakes with Care and Pride
  65. Live for Today; Plan for Tomorrow; Forget about Yesterday
  66. Have Fun, Laugh
  67. Treat Your Family as Your Number One Client
  68. No Goals, No Glory
  69. Always Remember Your Subordinates' Spouses
  70. See the Job Through the Salespeople's Eyes
  71. Be a Very Tough "Heller Seller"
  72. Don't Be an Empire Builder
  73. Push Products, Not Paper
  74. To Teach Is to Learn and to Lead
  75. Do Not Get Discouraged by the Idea Killers

Reviews

How to Become CEO

Reviewed by Roland Buresund

Bad ** (2 out of 10)

Last modified: May 21, 2007, 3:06 a.m.

If you find this book valuable, I must seriously question if you have what it takes to be a CEO.

Granted, there is always something that can be learned from everything, but advice like Don't travel with your superiors are a bit too simplistic.

You're safe if you avoid this book, as it absolutely will not help your career in any way!

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