Parents love to guess at what career their children will fall into someday. "Susie has been swinging a golf club since she was four—it won't surprise me if she goes pro one day." Or, "My Octavius could argue that the sky is green if he put his mind to it. He'll almost certainly be a lawyer."

Poultry executive, though, probably isn't one of those jobs parents envision for their kids, even if at four years old Petey is setting up his own chicken coop in the backyard and caring for the little critters. Well, maybe they would if he was setting up a coop, hiring other kids to manage the operation, and coming up with novel ways to profit from his enterprise. If that were the case, CEO of a poultry processing company might seem like it was written into Petey's DNA.

Hopefully Petey's parents won't quash their son's capitalist instincts. If he nurtures them in the right way and becomes the CEO of a poultry processing company, his base salary likely will be several hundred thousand dollars. If his company is a large one and he scores some performance bonuses, he may end up raking in several million per year (source). 

 

When we say the CEO oversees everything, we mean everything. (Source)

Busy as a bee? Try being busy as a C...EO. As leaders of their companies, CEOs are the most important component of their company's success. They oversee and make final decisions on virtually everything that goes on, from marketing to hiring to the business plan. 

They work extremely long hours, often waking before the sun comes up and taking work home in the evenings and on weekends. A typical day's schedule will be filled with meetings, during which they'll be required to weigh in on any and all topics with authority.

Many CEOs travel extensively for conferences, speaking engagements, site visits, and other business-related activities. They make tough decisions and sometimes take risks that they alone are responsible for. When times are tough, the CEO takes the heat and keeps a smile on their face to inspire everyone else.

Sounds like a lot of pressure, right? Who would want to take on that kind of stress? Well, for starters, the salary doesn't hurt. Executive compensation is at an all-time high, so high that a whole lot of people would gladly suffer some premature hair-graying if it means collecting the millions in compensation.

It also takes a certain kind of person to succeed as a CEO. Good CEOs are drawn to information of all kinds. When Bill Clinton was interviewing for the Rhodes scholarship, he was stumped by a question on chickens and free trade. 

Rather than just pass it off as "just one of those things," he learned everything he could on the topic. As governor of Arkansas and later the chief executive of the country, he wowed the crowds with his poultry IQ.

Most organizations look to their CEO not only for day-to-day operations, but also for a plan to increase business in the future. A CEO has to have that special quality that allows them to look beyond today and imagine tomorrow's business landscape. Where would this country be without Walt Disney's vision? Perhaps a chicken-themed amusement park will one day propel your company to the top of the haystack.

 

Who knows? Maybe your art history knowledge will give you your next big idea about the marketing of men's hair products. Thanks, Albrecht. (Source)

So where does an aspiring CEO acquire the necessary credentials to take the top chair at a poultry processor? Start with a college degree. Don't worry if it's not from Harvard or Yale. You could get a bachelor's in art history and still rise to the top, it'll just be harder without that top-notch pedigree.

You'll get more bang for your four years if you major in finance, business, or marketing. After that you need to get a job in the poultry business and start working your way up to higher positions. If you spend ten or fifteen years wrangling deals in meat processing, for example, you'll establish credibility as well as direct knowledge of how things work in the industry.

Many CEOs log time as a VP or another chief officer position before taking the CEO spot. This is the level where you can really show your chops for all the qualities described above. 

Marketing, sales, and operations are the three areas that tend to produce the most CEOs. If you're able to show how your decisions and leadership increased sales or production in your domain, companies will be more willing to hand you the reins to the whole shebang.

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