Are you too young to be a CEO or a member of the executive team? I know this is a thought that a lot of people have about themselves when they are rising in an industry. In this episode, I'll give you some of the usual criteria used for selecting executive-level leaders and various scenarios by which you could find yourself at the executive level earlier than you expected.

Resources referenced:

https://acorn-advisors.com/ceo-selection-and-evaluation-criteria/

https://leadershipconsulting.com/criteria-choosing-executives/

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Transcript

Are you too young to be a CEO or a member of the executive team? I know this is a thought that a lot of people have about themselves when they are rising in an industry. I want to tell you that it is technically, this thought, “I am too young to be an executive” is a limiting belief. This is mainly because age is not directly a determining factor in the decision when a CEO or an executive level leader is chosen. In this episode I’ll give you some of the usual criteria used, in many cases, for selecting executive level leaders and various scenarios by which you could find yourself at the executive level earlier than you expected. Granted, CEOs and other executives are usually the oldest people at the table – but that has more to do with the amount of experience they have across their entire career rather than a direct relation to age.

One of the youngest CEOs of a major publicly traded company right now

What is the average age people transition to the executive level?

Average age - The average age for publicly traded company C-suite members is 56

Speaking of age, executives tend to be individuals with decades of industry experience behind them. Despite the Mark Zuckerbergs (37) and Evan Spiegels (31) Snap chat of the world, most executives put in 25-35 years of middle-to-senior-level management before they make it to the executive table.

- The average age of a CEO is 59 years old.

- with CIOs (55)

- CHROs (55)

- Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) trend younger (54)

- CFOs (54)

Again, age correlates to tenure—younger C-suite positions have a shorter average tenure than older ones.

Often sector based: Looking at age through an industry lens yields even more insight into the nature of c-suite employment. Again, financial executives’ trend older in aggregate (55.6 years old) and tech (54.8 years old) skew younger, largely based on the nature of the sector.

https://maexecsearch.com/average-c-suite-tenure-and-other-important-executive-facts/

- Three-quarters of incoming CEOs were internal promotions.

- The average tenure in-company was 15.5 years.

https://execcomp.org/News/NewsStories/ceo-succession-trends-coming-out-of-covid

The average age of a Government executive - SES member, 54.6

the average length of total federal service was 22 years

and the percentage of males, 66.1 %

66.7 percent have an advanced degree

23.6 percent have only a four-year college degree

Energy vs wisdom – some of the consideration when an executive leader is chosen on the younger or older side.

Generally:

- Youth specializes in energy, risk-taking, innovation and fresh thinking (CON: young people can over-commit, have unrealistic expectations, or lack the necessary skill to deliver on their energy.)

- age brings wisdom and the experience to handle the ebb and flow of life with confidence and grace. (CON: And older people can be complacent or change-averse, or make simple things unnecessarily complex.)

And the strengths of each, when taken to an extreme or used inappropriately, become Achilles' heels:

So, rather than worrying about if you’ll be seen too young (or maybe too old) is to consider how you, as a leader, will balance you age-related strengths and weaknesses.

Chief executives under 35 are more likely to succeed both in attracting capital and in long-term performance if they have some reinforcements on their business team with experience, money managers say. In addition, they have a greater likelihood of success if their youth works to their advantage in some way, by putting them close to the age of their customers, for example.

In the “Crack the C-Suite Code” book, by Dr. Cassandra Frangos, She talks about leapfrog leaders. She based this part of her book on a study conducted by Torres, Hansell, Foster, and Baron titled, “Leapfrog Successions”.

A leapfrog leader is one who is promoted from a lower position in the company than normal. Often it is clear that certain people are being groomed for an executive position, there is often a pool of potential people to fill future executive positions. When someone who was working at a level below those people is promoted unexpectedly to the executive suite instead of the level actively being groomed, this person is called a leap-frog leader and may contribute to a younger selection for an executive fill.

The study found there are 2 most likely times a leapfrog leaders will be chosen:

- when the previous executive they are replacing stayed much longer than expected and thus. The next level team may have aged out (retired, close to retiring, or often are too similar to the long-term CEO and changing times may call for a different skillset.

- Second, a CEO’s planned departure occurs during a time of uncertainty. The company may be facing complex emerging technologies, changing consumer behavior, or other such disruptive and disorienting forces. In this case, the board looks for a leader who understands these dynamics and has the foresight to enter new markets, introduce new products, acquire new skill sets, and develop a new business model.

Risks: There are at least two risks, however.

- First, the new CEO who jumped over a level of experience may be unprepared for the job.

- Second, the executives who were passed over may be disappointed and become disaffected. They could quit at an awkward moment or try to undermine the new CEO.

Some actual criteria that might be used to determine if someone is executive potential:

https://acorn-advisors.com/ceo-selection-and-evaluation-criteria/

https://leadershipconsulting.com/criteria-choosing-executives/

Thinking

- Capacity to abstract, to conceptualize, to organize, and to integrate different data into a coherent frame of reference.

- Tolerance for ambiguity, can stand confusion until things become clear.

- Intelligence, has the capacity not only to abstract, but also to be practical.

- Judgment, knows when to act.

- Feelings and Interrelationships:

- Authority, has the feeling that he or she belongs in boss’s role.

- Activity, takes a vigorous orientation to problems and needs of the organization.

- Achievement, oriented toward organization’s success rather than personal aggrandizement.

- Sensitivity, able to perceive subtleties of other’s feelings.

- Involvement, sees oneself as a participating member of an organization.

- Maturity, has good relationships with authority figures.

- Interdependence, accepts appropriate dependency needs of others as well as of him or herself.

- Articulateness, makes a good impression.

- Stamina, has physical as well as mental energy.

- Adaptability, manages stress well.

- Sense of humor, doesn’t takes self too seriously.

- Outward Behavior Characteristics:

- Vision, is clear about progression of his or her own life and career, as well as where the organization should go.

- Perseverance, able to stick to a task and see it through regardless of the difficulties encountered.

- Personal organization, has good sense of time.

- Integrity, has a well-established value system, which has been tested in various ways in the past.

- Social responsibility, appreciates the need to assume leadership with respect to that responsibility.

As stated earlier, no one executive maps out exactly against the criteria but good executives embody most of these traits.

Why thinking that you are too young is a limiting belief and how it holds you back:

If you do believe that you are on a rising path in your organization, or at least you starting to think it is possible… the thought that you are too young, or that you are not yet at the level they usually chose executives from will not serve you and will only hold you back. If you think it is absolutely not possible, then you may hesitate to throw your hat in the ring when it comes to opportunities where these decisions will be made. If someone asks you to submit a package to support such a selection – it may take days of time to prepare that package. If you don’t want to take all the time to prepare your portion of the package – primarily because it is a lot of work for a relatively small chance of success, you will self-select out. Sometimes, just by going through the process, the interviews, the process of developing your body of work – not to mention the vetting that goes on in the process – if you do not believe in yourself – no one else will either. If you DO go through the process, you will see your stock rise – even if you are not selected.

What you can do instead

Instead of worrying how and when you will get your chance – just bring value every day. Build your portfolio in a genuine, purpose-filled way – focused on the customer while gaining a broad understanding of your overall industry. I will put a couple resources for sample criteria for CEO selection. Go over the criteria and assess yourself to determine if you would live up to the criteria or not. Don’t feel bad if the answer is “not yet” – rather, get to work and start filling in your gaps through work at your own organization, through charitable work, or hobbies.

Just focus on one area for 1-2 quarters at a time, and build up your portfolio over the next 1-3 years. Step into opportunities and decide that you will embrace discomfort. Before you know it – and perhaps when you least expect it, your moment will come.