????24歲時，我半開玩笑地告訴老板我想當CEO，他幾乎從椅子上掉下來。那是1974年，我還在IBM當軟件開發員。那時，沒有人覺得一個小工程師應該奢望坐上專為金牌銷售預留的位置。

????但在老板的指點下，我認真做了一番自我審視，把當上CEO真正作為了目標。最終，30年后，我在Business Objects公司實現了這一目標，但期間付出了大量的精心規劃，以及專注和決心。

????今時今日，成為CEO的路徑看上去有了非常大的變化，特別是在那些科技和互聯網初創企業。但成為得力領導者所需要的那些技能一如既往。它們通常需要靠長期實踐來獲得，但有些方法可以克服這個時間上的障礙。就算你閱歷不足，但只要敢想敢干，做好以下三件事，你也能成為合格的CEO。

????1. 組建一個團隊來補己所短

????就連經驗豐富的管理者也經常需要別人給他提供指導，特別是在其專業領域以外。對年輕的領導者來說，這是避免犯下重大錯誤的關鍵。缺乏經驗可能帶來非常嚴重的后果，比如用錯了人，花冤枉錢，陷入合同陷阱，或者違反法律，等待。

????以Facebook的馬克·扎克伯格和謝莉·桑德伯格為例，前者決定產品的方向，后者則更有生意頭腦。他們的技能可以互補，并為創建一家成功企業協同作戰。谷歌聯合創始人拉里·佩奇和謝爾蓋·布林（兩人創立谷歌時都是25歲）則請來了更有經驗的埃里克·施密特，進而使管理有了深度，然后他們就能發揮各自的特長。

????因此，在組建管理團隊時，別找那些跟你非常相像的人，而要找那些能讓你變得更全面，并能通過質疑讓你獲得成長的人。

????2. 利用正向和逆向思考的力量

????如果在二十幾歲就建立了自己的公司，而且沒有經受什么磨難，你就會有一些優勢和許多劣勢。

????最大的劣勢是沒什么履歷，而潛在投資者可能希望用這樣的紀錄來評估你成功的可能性。唯一的解決辦法是花大量時間向所有愿意傾聽的人宣傳你的點子。在風投界，舊金山灣區的投資者傳統上最愿意在一張白紙的團隊身上搏一把。另一個可能有用的策略是聘請更有經驗的人來負責融資工作，但要當心，別在這個過程中失去了對公司的控制權。

????作為年輕領導者，你可能會有一個很有意思的優勢，那就是你也許不知道什么事不可為，你不管怎樣都會嘗試去做。這也許會讓你獲得突破，而更有經驗的人或許會因為以往的負面經歷而錯失突破的機會。這是一件很棒的事。但真正的突破相對稀缺，大多數進展都是漸進的。要逐漸接近成功，從以往的成功和失敗中汲取教訓會大有裨益。

????3. 保持謙遜

????領導者需要有透明度，而且要在該謙虛的時候（經常會出現這樣的情況）放低姿態。實際上，谷歌等巨頭進行招聘時，會把思想上的謙遜——能夠做出讓步并接納他人更好意見的能力，置于文憑之上。可惜的是，人們經常把謙遜視為軟弱，而實際上這是領導者最強大的力量之一。

????謙遜的人會聽取別人的意見，學習別人的長處。在解決問題時，如果有人比他們更強，他們就會退居二線。他們會肯定別人的貢獻。當一切順風順水時，他們也不那么容易驕傲自大。他們總是反思自己的觀點和動機，以確保不偏離既定的經營目標。所有這些優點都是建立一家優秀企業的關鍵。不過，企業最終的目標是成功。

????謙遜固然很好，但一位領導者必須要有成功欲。

????所以，我的建議是：保持謙遜，但別忘了勝者為王。（財富中文網）

????本文為與《創業者》雜志的合作內容。原文最初發表于Entrepreneur.com網站。

????譯者：Charlie

????校對：詹妮

????When, at age 24, I told my boss (somewhat tongue in cheek) that I wanted to become a CEO, he nearly fell off his chair. It was 1974; I was a software developer working for IBM IBM 0.42% . At that time, lowly engineers were not expected to aspire to roles reserved for successful salespeople.

????But my boss’ guidance helped me take a hard look at myself and make becoming the CEO a real objective. I eventually achieved my goal 30 years later at Business Objects, but it took a lot of careful planning, as well as focus and determination.

????Today, the path to becoming a CEO can look very different, particularly within tech and internet startups. But the skills required to be an effective leader are the same as ever. These skills typically take a life of experience to acquire, but there are ways to overcome that time challenge. Here are three things you should do to qualify as CEO material, even if you are short on life experience — but still big on energy and bold ideas:

????1. Build a team to compensate for your shortcomings.

????Even a seasoned executive needs a sounding board of people who can offer guidance, particularly for areas that fall outside his or her core expertise. For young leaders, this is essential, to avoid serious mistakes. Lack of experience can lead to very painful consequences: hiring the wrong people, spending too much money, getting stuck with bad contract terms, or falling afoul of the law — to name just a few.

????Consider the example of Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook FB 0.27% : He drives the products, while she is the more business-oriented person. They complement each other with their skills, and work together to achieve a common goal of building a successful company. GoogleGOOG 0.74% co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (both 25 years old when they founded the company) brought in a more experienced Eric Schmidt so that they could gain management depth before taking over in their own right.

????When building your leadership team, then, don’t look for people who are exactly like you. Find those who can round you out and challenge you to grow.

????2. Use the power of positive — and negative — thinking.

????If you are launching a business when you are still in your 20s — without scars from past challenges — you will have some advantages and many disadvantages.

????The biggest disadvantage is the lack of a track record, which a potential investor might want to use to evaluate your probability of success. This can be overcome only by spending many hours selling your idea to as many people as will listen to it. In the venture capital universe, Bay Area investors have traditionally been the most willing to take a gamble on an untried team. Another potentially helpful strategy is to hire a more seasoned person to front the fund-raising, but take care not to lose control of the business in the process.

????An interesting advantage you may have as a young leader, meanwhile, is the likelihood that you probably do not know what is not possible; yet, you will attempt to do it anyway. This might result in a breakthrough that a more experienced person might miss due to a past negative experience. And that would be wonderful. But real breakthroughs are relatively rare. Most progress is incremental, and to attain incremental success, tapping into the experience of previous successes and failures can be very helpful.

????3. Practice humility.

????Leaders need to be transparent, and humble when humility is appropriate (which is very often). In fact, intellectual humility — the ability to step back and embrace the better ideas of others — is, for Google (to name one leading company) a more important hiring criterion than credentials. Unfortunately, humility is often perceived as a weakness, when in fact it is one of the greatest strengths a leader can possess.

????Humble people listen to and learn from others. They take the backseat when someone more able than themselves is available to solve a problem. They give credit where credit is due. They are less prone to hubris when things go really well. They constantly question their own views and motivation to ensure that they are truly aligned with the desired business outcome. All of these values are essential to build a high-performance organization. But of course business is all about winning.

????Being humble is fine, but a leader also must be willing to lead to victory.

????So, my advice is to practice humility — just don’t forget to win.

????This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at entrepreneur.com.