Career aspirations

Freefaller

Freefaller

Freefaller

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I was chatting with some friends talking about career aspirations. One of them asked me, would you ever want to be a CEO?

My initial reaction was "no"... the more I thought about it the more I was quite happy in my decision. I'm happy to be relatively senior with enough authority to have the autonomy I need to do what I want to do - that said I prefer to be a subject matter expert that is needed. I am more of a leader than a manager, and definitely prefer the more strategic activity of work with lots of small discrete pieces of work that tie together.

That said I am exploring the world of NED work as a bit of a pre-retirement plan to help top up salary / life expenses and move towards less full time work.

I know we have a wide range of people here at varying levels of skills and career areas - if someone were to ask you the above question (do you want to be CEO) what would you say? If not where would you like to be from a career perspective? And if you're not after a career, what/where would you like to be from a professional perspective?
 
I'd answer no.

Due to my current mental health issues, which create very physical symptoms I find I need to balance my work life carefully. As part of this I'm happy to stay away from senior roles and just be a busy bee. It pays the bills and I have enough left over to enjoy a couple of modest hobbies as well as go away each year. For reference I'm a software developer.

I'm satisfied with my lot and money isn't everything to me.
 
montymint said:
I'd answer no.

Due to my current mental health issues, which create very physical symptoms I find I need to balance my work life carefully. As part of this I'm happy to stay away from senior roles and just be a busy bee. It pays the bills and I have enough left over to enjoy a couple of modest hobbies as well as go away each year. For reference I'm a software developer.

I'm satisfied with my lot and money isn't everything to me.
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I agree for me it's not only about money, it's about enjoying the work I do. Mental health is so important and so overlooked as something that careers/work has a huge impact on. We spend a huge amount at work and it has to be somewhere you enjoy.

Sorry to hear about your mental health issues :( Looking after yourself is absolutely key / more important.

You can earn more than enough being an expert without having that senior leadership responsibility - I think for me it's doing stuff that excites you.

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I would like to become slightly more senior than I have been in my current role, but that isn't possible in the organisation due to the size and type of work it is involved in, so I have had to look elsewhere to facilitate that step

I am taking a bit of a sideways step to gain some more experience in a project type role with a view to moving into project management - I did interview for some project manager posts, but because my current role has not been project orientated I was beaten by candidates currently working in the project environment, and the feedback I was given pretty much said that it was only my lack of recent project experience that they made their decision on, and is a big part of why I am making the move on from my current role

However, I don't think I would like to be a CEO of a company as I don't think I would want that kind of responsibility

My wife is the complete opposite, she loves her job and doesn't want to move more senior due to the expectations and responsibility that it brings

At the end of the day, we have enough money to live a decent lifestyle, and I would rather be in that position than having more money but with more stress involved
 
I have a colleague chomping at the bit for a directorship role. I am about a year or two away from that point, but I don't share the same enthusiasm. He is only doing it for the RSUs so he can retire early though, so I guess it depends on how much you want to die in a ditch now so you can potentially call it quits earlier.
 
I guess it also depends how big of a company. I.e. I'm sure the roles are very different for a CEO who's company turns over tens of billions a year versus a small company that might only be turning over 6 figures. The salaries will be vastly different, but I'd bet the smaller company CEO has a lot less stressful job too. Less demanding shareholders too I bet.
 
dLockers said:
He is only doing it for the RSUs so he can retire early though, so I guess it depends on how much you want to die in a ditch now so you can potentially call it quits earlier.
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That's quite a bit of a gamble. If the company goes through a bit of turmoil that could dent the share price and wipe out a huge chunk of what the RSUs are worth.
 
Semple said:
That's quite a bit of a gamble. If the company goes through a bit of turmoil that could dent the share price and wipe out a huge chunk of what the RSUs are worth.
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It is quite the spread bet and other than being an entrepreneur or buying a house in an area before it gets gentrified, there isn't any other way to get such a big potential pay off.
 
Couldn't think of anything worse. I'm quite happy in the sort of position I am at the moment.
I'm the subject matter expert and architect of what I look after with plenty of general knowledge on the business, it's a relatively low stress 9-5 and I earn midway into the higher tax bracket so my work life balance is perfect as far as I'm concerned.
 
Semple said:
I guess it also depends how big of a company. I.e. I'm sure the roles are very different for a CEO who's company turns over tens of billions a year versus a small company that might only be turning over 6 figures. The salaries will be vastly different, but I'd bet the smaller company CEO has a lot less stressful job too. Less demanding shareholders too I bet.
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^^^ this, in fact other than being called "CEO" it could be a radically different job.

A person well suited to rapidly growing a startup might well not be suited to running a large, well established organisation.

I think if someone is a good product manager in a large company they could be a good CEO of a small tech firm/startup, it's going to have some overlap albeit with the requirement of a few additional skills.
 
Nope, once you get to director level you pretty much need to give up a lot of your free time. I am quite happy in middle management roles where I can make sure everyone below that level is able to maintain a healthy work/life balance.
 
I think not, or at least not unless I was the founder/hugely passionate about the business space. I don’t think I could give up work/life balance to the necessary extent required to get to that level.

I’m not even sure I want to ever end up in management to be honest. Perfectly happy being a senior individual contributor. As long as the money is good enough to hit my goals anyway.
 
Nope. I see their stress levels and their lack of free time - emails sent at all hours.

My work is dropped at the door the second i get home - although they know in an emergency they can contact me.

Senior Manager now in an organisation i have worked 29 years for - i will look to finish there Mar 26 and have no clue what i fancy doing next :)
 
There's a very common misconception amongst the "working class" that managers just sit around all day and call the shots whilst having a very easy life - I used to think this too, until I became one. The amount of stress and responsibility goes up tenfold, you are suddenly making decisions with very large consequences and the stress that goes with them is insane - well, it should be - I always say that an unstressed manager is a manager who doesn't care about his workforce.

I'd do a CEO's job for a bit, just to tick it off for the reasons mentioned in my other thread but I couldn't see it being a long term thing. Either that or I'd surround myself with absolutely top shelf people who can remove a lot of the stress for me (if that's even possible, I have trouble letting go).

There are days when I absolutely love doing what I do, and there are days where I'd like nothing more than to grab my old tool kit and go fix stuff rather than deal with all the unknown variables that come with being a manager.

Swings and roundabouts I guess, just like every job.


* - I despise the term "working class", I think of these people more as the front-liners, as ultimately they're the backbone upon which any company is built.
 
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Oddball aka Diddums said:
Either that or I'd surround myself with absolutely top shelf people who can remove a lot of the stress for me (if that's even possible, I have trouble letting go).
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I think that's a good part of it. For a big company it's physically impossible to micro manage / get involved with every aspect of the business. You have a team of presidents/executive VPs/General Manager/<insert term here>, who you rely on to effectively run that segment of the business with minimal input from the CEO.

If you have a **** team of execs then you can bet it'll make your life next to impossible.

BTW - is that your new gang name, ready for your stint inside ;)
 
I'd be interested to observe the role in detail and make a more informed decision and suspect the experience will vary massively between organisations especially at places where you have a team of experts working for you doing all the heavy lifting. I do know that I don't want any role between myself and the CEO here though. Each of the jobs is more hassle then its worth.
 
I would prefer a COO or CTO role over CEO.

I'm much prefer the implementation and execution side of things over strategy and leadership.
 
Trifid said:
I'd be interested to observe the role in detail and make a more informed decision and suspect the experience will vary massively between organisations especially at places where you have a team of experts working for you doing all the heavy lifting. I do know that I don't want any role between myself and the CEO here though. Each of the jobs is more hassle then its worth.
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Yes that's a great point - being able to shadow a day in the life of a CEO in a large corporate vs a smaller business would be really interesting.

Personally at director level (not technically board-level but do go to some) it's more than enough for me. I already work long hours and have a lot of pressure, and whilst I find it thrilling and exciting, I have a good team around me.

This is why the NED roles are interesting, you offer "critical friend" challenges, provide insights, advice, but without needing to make executive decisions.
 
A younger me would have said yes, but post covid me no. I’m happy where I am, a good level of autonomy, decently paid without it cutting in to my own time. Financial circumstances have changed and I don’t need to worry about retirement with a significant trust fund covering my later life, so I’m just happy to enjoy where I am now.

It’s becoming a more common viewpoint too, fewer and fewer people are wanting any more responsibility or the top jobs in my field.
 
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CaptainRAVE said:
A younger me would have said yes, but post covid me no. I’m happy where I am, a good level of autonomy, decently paid without it cutting in to my own time. Financial circumstances have changed and I don’t need to worry about retirement with a significant trust fund covering my later life, so I’m just happy to enjoy where I am now.

It’s becoming a more common viewpoint too, fewer and fewer people are wanting any more responsibility or the top jobs in my field.
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Yes I've noticed that too. 20 years ago people would do whatever it took to get promoted (leading to some nasty behaviours), now people seem to be paid enough as a subject matter expert that makes them important to the business without needing a huge amount of extra responsibility.

There is a danger / risk though that you end up with leaders that don't want to be there, or are just awful at it - we need people with the passion to drive change and create en empowered workforce.
 
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