Our most popular articles here at Worldwide Success have to do with CEOs.  People are generally fascinated by CEOs.  There is quite a bit of demand to learn more about who they are, what they think and where they came from.  In particular, many people want to know what it takes to become a CEO (many times for the wrong reasons).  We have published quite a few articles that deal with the subject of CEOs – here are a few good examples:

Corporate Career Success – How to Become CEO

How to Become CEO – CEO Factories

The Best Age to be a CEO

How Much Do CEOs Make?

How to Succeed Like a CEO

Recently I ran across a post called CEO Statistics from a 2007 poll of “emerging culture” (just North of startup) CEOs.  Despite of the fact that this pool was apparently limited to a subset of CEOs, I thought the data was quite interesting, especially because it demonstrates that not all CEOs are high-powered corporate tycoons. 

For those of you who want to become a CEO, these statistics could give you some powerful clues as to what it is really like to be a CEO.  Here are a few highlights:

Most CEOs are Republicans

This should not be a big surprise to anyone.  CEOs are business oriented and tend to be conservative, which are values held in high regard by Republicans. 

Most CEOs are Highly Educated

Again, this should not be a big surprise.  Almost half have a Bachelor’s degree, a quarter have a Master’s Degree, and a quarter have PhDs.

Not All CEOs make Millions

This is an interesting one.  According to this post, half of the CEOs make $250K or less.  Sure, if you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company you will make millions, but many CEOs run small companies that cannot afford to pay mega bucks.

Not All CEOs are Millionaires

This may be a shocker to you.  Almost half (48% to be exact) of CEOs have a Net Worth of less than 1 million!

The CEO job is highly demanding and can be extremely stressful.  If you want to be one, you should do it because you love to run businesses, not because of the money, power or glamour.   As this article points out, not all CEOs live like kings or rock stars.  Many struggle each and every day to keep their business afloat, and quite a few are not any better off than many of us.