How To Go From CS Major To CEO

Larry Chiang scandalously shows granular tid-bits in how to start as an entrepreneur. He edits the Bloomberg BusinessWeek channel “What They Don’t Teach You at Business School”. After Chiang’s Harvard Law keynote, Harvard Business wrote: “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School“ (its the same title as his NY Times bestseller). If you read his scandalously awesome “What a Supermodel Can Teach a Stanford MBA” and “How to Get Man-Charm”, you will like his latest post:

How To Go From CS Major To CEO

By Larry Chiang

This is 2nd in the new series, “How To Go From CS Major To CEO”

I have this theory that its easier to be a CEO as a CS Major than it is for CEOs to learn CS skills.

This theory makes me EXTREMELY popular at engineering schools. Right now, most CS progams don’t say, “Come study engineering here and you will be CEO.” Well, I’m the guy that ‘leaves the building’ and collects knowledge required for CS Majors to make it to the CEO’s corner office

Here are 5 tips from a Supermodel for a CS major to be CEO:

-1- Cut The Line

If you want to be CEO in your 20s, you’re going to have to cut the line.

Supermodels cut lines regularly. The key is not to cut the line but make the line regulator and rules enforcer to THANK YOU for doing so. As CS majors we have to add some value in cutting lines which include rote tasks that take us a few seconds. For example, embedding a YouTube video or title tagging flickr posts or woooOOoo… developing a wordpress Thesis template for their blog.

The key is to embrace the “cut-the-line” mentality. The first time you do it there is a slight discomfort in hacking the system.

-2- Beating the Catch-22s

Supermodels do not get “discovered”. They hustle. Low-tier models wait to get discovered.

The public is out there thinking there is a catch 22 where what comes first, the chicken or the egg.

Models stuck in ameteur mode think they have to pay to get portfolio pictures so that they can build a portfolio. And they can’t get booked until they have a great portfolio.

Supermodels, rising hustle and get paid while they build their portfolio by networking all sorts of fringe modeling gigs. Work such as editorial or student publication or doing trade work. Trade work is where you exchange modeling services for credits or a gift card where they barter.

CS majors think they can’t get a great internship until they get experience on their resume. CS majors can beat this catch-22 with hustle in getting internship leads (or just reading my facebook wall).

-3- Stand As-If

Models stand as-if they are the next *IT* thing.

CS majors kind of slouch. While having supermodel posture might be a stretch, reducing the hunchback to a mere slouch helps.

Stand tall. Do you know that women hate to be uber tall? It is why many tall women slouch. Do you know many geeks hate being smart? Well, the lesson a supermodel can teach is that if you’re hot, 6’5″ in heels, stand tall and embrace the set of cards you are dealt.

-4- Embrace Some Imperfection

In high school we as CS majors might have been pimply computer geeks… lets embrace that. Remember, nerding out is cool right now.

Supermodels are taught to wear even a burlap bag with confidence and attitude. The imperfection might be there, but being ok with things not being perfect is what a supermodel can teach a CS major.

-5- Be OK with Non-Perfect Work

This dovetails from the last point. We do not want to produce bad work, but we want to be ok with non-perfect work. What I mean is that we don’t want to dribble and beat ourselves up in projects that are not examples of our best work.

Non-perfect work gets us out there where…

-6- Getting Booked Gets you More Booked

There is a momentum in life. Supermodels can go on a hot streak. CS majors in an academic mind-set search for the exact right project/internship/job. Supermodels that ebb and flow between alpha jobs get there by doing beta and gamma groundwork. CS majors can learn from this.

-7- Be OK with Fake People

Remember, if people are being fake to you, at least they care about what you think. We should be ok with fake people. We as supermodels or CS majors should start to worry once people stop being fake to us.

-8- Air Kiss 90% of the Time

Here is the cream at the middle of your twinkie:

Air kiss 90% and real kiss 10% of the time. Ever so slightly supplantation of some lip in your next air-kiss and ‘Boom!’ you’ve got a chemical reaction.

If you are reading closely, no this really doesn’t teach a CS major *ANYTHING*, but it is meant to see if you are still paying attention

*BONUS*
Here is the four leaf clover at the end of the yellow brick road:

Tweak the product you’re selling by 20%, orient it to solve a slightly different problem and ‘Boom!’ Its a company with immediate revenue prospects. A supermodel that dates an investment banker told me that.

*** BONUS ***
a party invite for you:
http://economist.eventbrite.com/
What a Supermodel Can Teach a Harvard MBA
If you liked this…

Larry’s mentor Mark McCormack wrote this in 1983. His own book came out 09-09-09. It is called ‘What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School‘

This post was drafted in an hour and needs your edits… email me if you see a spelling or grammatical error(s)… larry@larrychiang com

Larry Chiang started his first company UCMS in college. He mimicked his mentor, Mark McCormack, founder of IMG who wrote the book, “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School”. Chiang is a keynote speaker and bestselling author and spoke at Congress and World Bank.

Text or call him during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes at 650-283-8008. Due to the volume of calls, he may place you on hold like a Scottsdale Arizona customer service rep. If you email him, be sure to include your cell number in the subject line. If you want him to email you his new articles…, ask him in an email
You can read more equally funny, but non-founder-focused-lessons on Larry’s Amazon blog .