8% of CEOs do not hold a college degree.

CEO Genome Project has found out that an Ivy-draped diploma doesn’t guarantee someone will become a CEO, but what’s more surprising is that 8% of CEOs did not complete college at all.

To get to the top, one must excel in:

• gaining deep industry-specific and firm-specific knowledge
• delivering outsized results to get noticed
• being a talent magnet

Those who reach the top also share four key behaviors that anyone can mas­ter:

1. They are decisive.
2. They are relentlessly reliable.
3. They adapt boldly.
4. They engage with stakeholders without shying away from conflict.

The results of the research are presented in the book The CEO Next Door (Crown Publishing, 2018).

Source: HBR