On being a CEO

Ever wonder who is leading the business world in Belgium? It turns out, according to Vacature, if you are a CEO of a Belgian business, you are likely to be about 50 years old, almost certainly male and you studied civil engineering at university, followed by an MBA.

While there is, of course, great variation in the types and profiles of people leading Belgian companies (some are even female!), there are a few facts about Belgian CEOs that are interesting to know…

You are rich, relatively
In Belgium, the average CEOs earn 16 times more than the average worker. This means that  a typical Belgian would work almost 2.5 days to earn the hourly wage of a CEO. While you might question whether a CEO's job is really 16 times more valuable than your job, it might soothe you to know that this number is on par with the Netherlands and more equal than the salaries in France and Great Britain, which are 21 and 24 times larger, respectively. And those are nothing if you compare them to the United States, where some studies show the average CEO earns over 400 times the salary of the average worker.

Since 2004, all public companies listed on the Belgian stock exchange are required to publish the salaries of their executives, which makes it easy to see what your top CEOs are earning – at least in his (and the top 18 are all “hims”) day job.

The highest paid CEO, according to JobAt, is Roch Doliveux (pictured), head of the pharmaceutical company UCB, who earns 4.1 million euros in yearly salary. While this is certainly comfortable, Belgium ranks low in the compensation of CEOs compared to many other countries, including the UK, Germany and The Netherlands, and certainly, again, compared to the US, where the average CEO earns 11.7 million U.S. dollars (10.3 million euros).

You export well
In 2013, it was found that Belgium is one of the biggest exporters of CEOs, with Belgians taking up top posts in several international businesses all over the world. Vlerick Business School interviewed 25 Belgian top executives and found that language skills and the ability to work long hours and compromise, along with access to high quality higher education, make Belgians strong candidates for international jobs.

Being non-male
If your gender identity is anything other than “male”, and you want to be a CEO, you have your work cut out for you. In one survey by Vacature, only six in 100 CEOs were women.

Vlerick Business School professor Katleen De Stobbeleir, who studies female leadership, noted last May that women have not only the “glass ceiling” to contend with, where obstacles, social pressures and prejudices block them from reaching the same professional heights as an equally performing man. They also have the “glass cliff”, where if they reach the top, it is often in times of crisis, and they have twice the probability of being fired.

Photo courtesy De Standaard / blg