Pano Christou | Why the career trajectory of Pret A Manger's CEO went viral

How does one become a CEO? A simple Google search of this question will garner various articles promising the ‘secrets’ to getting to the top of the C-suite.

And whilst these ‘hacks’ to getting to the top may help a budding would-be executive climb the ladder, the truth is that each path to the top is extremely different, and each comes with its own caveats and challenges that many wouldn’t dream of facing.

To step back from this question for just a minute, a bigger question looms. Why? Why would you want to take on the most stressful and burdened position within any company? Times are tough for most businesses.

PwC data suggests that 39% of CEOs believe that their business will not be economically viable within a decade on current trajectories. That’s a lot of change management, tough decision-making and, more than likely, innumerable sleepless nights.

In short, it’s a tough job taking the top spot, and very few people are suited to the sheer levels of stress that they’ll be inevitably put under.