News You Can Use: "Here's what you need to do to become a FTSE 100 CEO"

From CityAM:

What qualities does the person in the corner office have that his or her colleagues don't? A new study has found they are likely to have a background in finance, have an MBA and be in their early 50s. 

The report, by headhunter Heidrick & Struggles found top-flight UK chief executives tend to have been promoted from within, rather than being drafted in from outside the company.

The figures, which compared bosses of the UK's FTSE 100 with chief execs of Germany's Dax 30 and MDax 50, France's SBF120 and the US' Fortune 500, also found Britain's blue-chip index is increasingly becoming less male-dominated, with the number of women running the show doubling between 2013 and 2016 (although women still only make up six of the FTSE's 100 top bosses).

Want to be the FTSE 100's next chief executive? Here's how to get there:

1. Bide your time: The average age at appointment is 49
If you're 25 with big dreams, have patience. The figures showed the majority of bosses - 54 per cent - are appointed when they are under 50 years old. That was compared with 30 per cent who were hired between the ages of 50 and 54, and 15 per cent who were hired when they were between 55 and 59. By the time you hit 60, it may be too late: only one of the FTSE 100's chief executives was hired when he was over 60.

That said, the average age of chief executives generally (rather than when they are hired) is 54 - younger than the US, France and Germany.

2. Stay put: Boards prefer internal candidates
The figures showed 61 of the FTSE 100's bosses were already at their company when they were appointed, compared with 34 per cent who were external candidates. Just five of the FTSE 100's chief executives (WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell, Sports Direct's Mike Ashley and Randgold's Mark Bristow among them) are founders of their company. It takes the average candidate 13 years to be appointed to chief executive.

3. Do your best to be male
More women than ever before are heading up FTSE 100 companies - but the progress is glacially slow. Just six of the FTSE 100's top bosses were female in 2016, although that was twice the number of 2013. Meanwhile, eight per cent of the Fortune 500 are headed up by women - while just two per cent of French companies and one per cent of German companies are run by women....MUCH MORE