I am currently a member of the proverbial C suite and, in my opinion, there were several strategies that contributed to me getting to that level by my mid 30’s. I am going to provide you with a few of those strategies so you can try to apply them in your own work-life.
Strategy number one, exploit your educational background. I went to an Ivy League school and have been able to leverage that fact throughout my entire career. I realize that many people do not have this luxury. As an alternative, I would recommend aligning yourself with elite institutions. There are certificate programs at Ivy League schools that are not very expensive that can carry some weight and can provide you with some additional education. Even Harvard has these certificate programs through their extension school.
Strategy number two, perfect your writing, dress, public speaking, storytelling, general appearance and presentations skills. Make sure you hold yourself to that C-Suite standard during interviews and, of course, once hired. You want those who hired you to feel like they made the right decision in doing so. Present yourself as the C-Level executive you want to be. Dress the part so upper management knows you are on their level. Superior writing skills are necessary for creating emails to correspond intelligently at work. The public speaking skills are necessary for presenting information and conversing with individuals at your company, customers, clients and upper management. Make sure you are well spoken, amiable, intelligent sounding, and knowledgeable about the inner workings of your company. Take ownership of your intellectual superiority and leverage it for opportunity alongside hard work. Have some pride in where you work as if it was your own operation.
Strategy three, look for a hole, niche, or area that the company is not optimizing, that you believe your superiors would be interested in hearing more about. Create a plan to bring them great value in this area. At the end of the day, you are there to make your company money and you are only as good as the revenue you bring in. Shareholders are asking themselves, does this individual bring us what we want for a fair price – price meaning salary, and other drawbacks or baggage that go along with having you as an employee. Put that material in a power point that looks very professional or a professional looking prospectus, go to your boss and tell him or her you have something that you believe to be of immense value to the company and would like the opportunity to present the material to those at the top. This should give you the opportunity to get into the orbit of those at the top.
Strategy number four, and possible the most important strategy for moving up to the C-Suite – get in good with your boss. Politics is incredibly important at any company. If you are not liked by the higher ups, it is unlikely they will promote you to the inner circle no matter how well you perform. Do not seem too desperate to be their friends either. Get a good gauge of the personalities at the top, and find a few that you think you mesh with and make some overtures. Participate in the things that they participate in. Show that you have similar interests. Make sure you take part in any social happenings that the C-Suite will take part in at the company. People will really get to know you if they are drinking around you or in a relaxed environment, so if there is a happy hour, take advantage of it and go. Show them you care about them on a personal level. Invest in their life.
Strategy number 5 – outwork everyone. When assessing you for the top positions at a company you will likely be assessed on two fundamentals – performance and culture. Performance is how well you execute your job. You must make sure you score high on performance because during promotion and bonus time, that’s where you will be assessed and it’s also the area where you can quantitatively make a case for yourself. You can say, “I made the company $10 million dollars so I am work X”. Have hard numbers and indisputable data at the ready when being assessed for promotions. Culture is an area of focus come time for promotion to the C-Suite, especially right now – it’s a big buzz word. It basically means the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact. It’s also how you carry yourself. If you have a positive attitude and are gung ho about your organization and it’s future prospects, that ideology is infectious and will be sensed by everyone, including the higher ups. Bottom line, outwork everyone else at the company. Offer to take on the work of your boss’s place and make sure you give him or her credit for the work (you are playing the long game). If you can outwork everyone around you, your performance will be positively perceived by those at the top, despite others taking a little credit for your work,
To conclude, there are obviously no guarantees that you will achieve the C-Level. You want to make sure you have a good education, institutional knowledge, the personal disposition, appearance, and work ethic to increase your chances. Develop a strategy around how you are going to get to the C-Suite. Put the plan down on paper – “apply for XYZ middle management job, work my way up by year 4 to C Suite.” Or “apply for only C-Level jobs, prove that I can perform, be a culture carrier, and work at the company for the rest of my life.” I started at my company as an intern about 10 years ago and I made it to the C-Suite by year 7 so it is possible to hit that target while working your way up from the bottom. Make sure you have a strategy, work hard, make calculated decisions, perform, and have good culture.
