How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization

by Jeffrey J. Fox Narrated by Jeffrey J. Fox

Overview

A No-Nonsense, Common-Sense Guide to Getting to the Top of the Tree

How does one become a CEO? Many people know they want to climb the corporate ladder, but don't have a clue about how to ascend that ladder without losing their grip. In this insightful, controversial program, Jeffrey J. Fox offers solid, practical advice and recommendations on how to fulfill your ambition to better yourself, to be a contributor, to make a difference, to grow professionally, and to be more successful.

The seventy-five "rules" that Mr. Fox -- founder of a marketing and consulting firm and an MBA graduate of Harvard Business School -- outlines are actions you must take, traits you must develop and things you must avoid in order to succeed. Mr. Fox's short and simple one-lesson-per-topic approach is an intelligent and straight-forward method of business instruction.

This guide sets forth the qualities that every successful leader must have: vision, persistence, integrity, and respect for superiors, subordinated, and peers. Whether you want to become president or CEO of a corporation, buy a business, start a business, run your own business, or have a long and fruitful career in a large corporation, How to Become CEO will give you the power to control your own business destiny.

Editorial Reviews

bn.com

You have the ambition, the drive, and the smarts to land a seat in your company's corner office. But there's still something you don't have -- a rulebook that lists all the unspoken dos and don'ts that regulate corporate life, allowing some people to rise while others, often equally talented, sink. Jeffrey Fox has collected 75 of these rules, which range from prescriptive formulas ("Arrive 45 minutes early and leave 15 minutes late") to suggestions for developing the right attitude ("Do something hard and lonely"). While Fox tends to be a heavy-handed contrarian at times, his ideas always contain valuable germs of common sense. If you're serious about getting ahead, this book is an investment that should be paying you dividends for years to come.

From the Publisher

"Even MBAs from the best graduate business schools will find essential insights and practical lessons in HOW TO BECOME CEO."
—John Quelch, former Sebasitan Kresge Professor of marketing at Harvard Business Schoo, now Dean of London Business School

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171838560
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	01/01/2004
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

VI
Do Something Hard and Lonely

Regularly practice something Spartan and individualistic. Do something that you know very few other people are willing to do. This will give you a feeling of toughness, a certain self-elitism. It will mentally prepare you for the battle of business. Something that is hard and lonely is studying late at night for a graduate degree in fashion design, especially in the winter, when everyone else is asleep. Or running long, slow distances early in the morning (versus jogging at lunchtime with a mob). Split wood, write, work in the garden, read King Lear, but does it by yourself. Do something that is solitary. All great and successful athletes remember the endless hours of seemingly unrewarded toil. So do corporate presidents.

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XII
Skip All Office Parties

There is no such thing as a business or "office party."' It is not a social gathering. It is business. Never party at an office party. It won't hurt you not to go at all. Don't offend people by criticizing the party or by publicly announcing your intentions. Simply don't go. Give polite excuses. Never ever go to a company picnic if you cannot bring your spouse. A company picnic without spouses is trouble. To go is to run the risk of being tarred with the bad brush of others' actions. If the unwritten rule is "you must attend or you will offend"' then go. Drink only soda. Stay no more than forty-five minutes. Thank the boss for inviting you, and leave. If anyone asks where you are going, tell that person you are meeting your spouse, or parents, or fiancée, or doctor, or music teacher, or personal trainer. Parties are supposed to be fun, enjoyed with friends. Heed the old axiom: "Don't mix business with pleasure.'''

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XVIII
Arrive Forty Five Minutes Early and Leave Fifteen Minutes Late

If you are going to be first in your corporation, start practicing by being first on the job. People who arrive at work late don't like their jobs at least that's what senior management thinks. People don't arrive twelve minutes late for the movies. And being early always gives you a psychological edge over the others in your company. Don't stay at the office until ten o'clock every night. You are sending a signal that you can't keep up or that your personal life is poor. Leave fifteen minutes late instead. In those fifteen minutes organize your next day and clean your desk. You will be leaving after 95 percent of the employees any way, so your reputation as a hard worker stays intact. There are too many times in your career when circumstances such as airline schedules and sales meetings and yearend closings and such will keep you away from home until late. Give more time to your family. Plus forty-five minutes early and fifteen minutes late is an hour a day. That's two hundred fifty hours a year or 31 days. You can get ahead quickly working one extra month a year.

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