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YourTurn I Was Born To Be a CEO I always knew I was born to be a CEO. At an early age I was sure that I had all the right stuff. I was creative, I was organized, I could speak well, and I was good at motivating a team. Most important, I liked to lead peo- ple. I envisioned myself in that fancy corner office sitting on my CEO throne and wearing my diamond- encrusted CEO crown. With this vision in mind, I vowed to get on the fast track to become a CEO before I reached the age of 30. As it turned out, my "fast track" by Greg Harris my MBA diploma, I accepted a job with HP in the Silicon Valley. It had everything I was looking for in a first "real" job—prestige, responsibility, and the potential for promotion. But after four long years, I began to get impatient, feeling as if my career was moving in slow motion. I was still just a lowly product manager in a huge company. I was unsure whether anyone even noticed my contribu- tions, and I wondered just how long it would take the board to ask me to run the company. When that invitation wasn't to the CEO's office took a little longer than I expected. I was pro- moted to CEO a few weeks before my 40th birthday; but the job isn't at all what I'd expected when I was younger. In fact, I wonder how many young business school stu- dents share the same misconceptions I once had. After I headed off to college and earned a bachelor's degree in the early '80s, I scoured the want ads looking for the right position. I was stunned to find that not a single company was advertising for CEOs. I couldn't even find a position for a "CEO-in-training"! So, I came to a solution: Get an forthcoming, I moved to a number of smaller companies, accepting more responsibility with each move. Finally, after three years in my cur- rent position, I got the promotion I'd always wanted. And guess what? The view from the CEO's office looks nothing like I thought it would. In fact, it's hard for me to believe that I once craved this title. There's no throne, no car, and no golf. Frankly, it's not much fun either. While I knew what the job entailed on a large scale when I accepted the job, I must admit I wasn't prepared for the reality of it. I've discovered that a CEO has that guides the organization, he or she is not the one actually steering the ship. A team of people is respon- sible for running the business on a daily basis, but the CEO must solve most of the problems. In good times, the CEO has very little to do; but in bad times, the CEO has to be all over the boat. In today's econo- my, a company thrives based on its ability—and the ability of its CEO— to execute efficiently and react quickly to unforeseen threats. Really, a CEO's job has never been tougher, especially in the shad- ow of the Enrons of the world. As a CEO, I'm immediately looked on with suspicion. When I told my friends about my promotion, almost every one of them told me, "You'd better brush up on your creative accounting!" At the same time, I'm expected to have an opinion about corporate ethics, something business is treating like the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling defining pornography. That is, we're not exactly sure how to define "unethi- cal corporate behavior," but we'll know it when we see it. I also get the sense that many MBA. That would surely put me on a fast track to that executive suite, company car, corporate jet, and golf club membership. It seemed quite simple. I would build credibility by getting a job with the biggest, most reputable company I could find. From there, I would move to slight- ly smaller companies and take on increasing responsibility. Then "poof!" I'd become a CEO. Before the ink was even dry on 54 BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2003 three primary responsibilities: One, create the vision for the company; two, sell the logic of the vision to others inside and outside the organi- zation; and three, solve problems that impede the vision. One an two are lots of fun. In fact, when I dreamed of being a CEO, directing a team of people to help them realize my "vision" was what I had in mind. Unfortunately, I spend 85 percent of my time on responsibility No. 3. The problems are relentless, unex- pected, and come from all corners of the organization. I know now that while the CEO can create the map believe it's unethical for CEOs to be greedy. But in my opinion, "greed" is a good thing. In fact, it's a requirement for business success. If CEOs didn't have a greedy streak, most businesses simply wouldn't succeed. As a new CEO, I want nothing less than total market domi- nation. How can I approach the job any other way? And, as a CEO, I'm expected to be doing stuff, all the time. The office is a place for action, and CEOs run the risk of looking like slackers if they do too much think- ing in the office. Thinking, after all, often involves sitting with a blank