How to Become a C.E.O.

Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella, C.E.O. of Microsoft, was a low-profile computer scientist at the firm for decades before being named C.E.O. in 2014. A study found that internally promoted C.E.O.’s led to at least a 25 % better total financial performance than external hires. Satya Nadella / Wikimedia Commons
Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella, C.E.O. of Microsoft, was a low-profile computer scientist at the firm for decades before being named C.E.O. in 2014. A study found that internally promoted C.E.O.’s led to at least a 25 % better total financial performance than external hires. Satya Nadella / Wikimedia Commons

How to Become a C.E.O.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s dentist dad was an early adopter of digital x-rays. Jack Welch blew the roof off a factory. Carol Bartz was a Wisconsin farm girl who got into computers. No two C.E.O.’s have the same origin story — so we tell them all! How the leaders of Facebook, G.E., Yahoo!, PepsiCo, Microsoft, Virgin, the Carlyle Group, Reddit, and Bridgewater Associates made it to the top. (Part 2 of a special series, “The Secret Life of C.E.O.’s.”)