Becoming CEO is not a performance contest

In every organisation there are managers who are brilliant at their job and still never quite make it to the top. And there are others who seem less capable but know exactly how the game is played.

That is rarely chance. It follows a logic.

Anyone who wants to become CEO needs more than results. Three factors often decide, and expertise alone is not enough.

Those who know the formal structures but ignore the informal ones lose. Decisions are rarely made where they are officially made. They are made in the conversations beforehand: in corridors, over dinner, in one-to-one calls.

Power competence means: you know who really has the say. You know who blocks and who supports. And you handle this deliberately, without compromising yourself.

It is not about having many contacts. It is about being able to activate the right contacts at the right time.

That means building relationships before you need them. Internally beyond your own department, externally into the industry. Anyone who only networks when they need something has started too late.

A CEO does not have to know everything. But they must set a direction and get others to follow it. That is not a question of intelligence but of persuasiveness and timing.

Those who only argue often lose to those who convince.

These three skills can be developed. But they do not develop on their own, and very few companies teach them.

Anyone who wants to become CEO should work on them early, before the next step comes up.

Read more: Political skill is part of leadership · Why performance alone does not get you to the top

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