The typical CEO spends their time attending meetings, strategizing with their board, and, in the case of the boss of semiconductor giant ASML, batting off questions about how to get to where he is.
It’s an understandable query. As CEO of the Fortune 500 Europe lithography group, Christophe Fouquet is in charge of one of the most strategically important companies in the world. His €3.5 million ($3.6 million) pay packet last year, and more in accumulated stock options, doesn’t temper the envy either.
But speaking to Norges Bank Investment Management CEO Nicolai Tangen on his In Good Company podcast, Fouquet indicated the question stands out as a consistent shortcoming among ambitious youngsters.
“I see too many young people who come to see me, and they want to be CEO, and they ask me ‘how do we become CEO?’ And I try to explain to them in the nicest possible way that this is almost an absurd question,” said Fouquet.
“This is not the right question. The right question is what am I going to do tomorrow that really gets me excited, that really brings the best out of me?
“Because if you go and do that every day, there may be a chance you become CEO—most probably a bigger chance that you don’t—but you will equally end up doing something that brings you joy, energy, and most importantly brings that to the people around you.”
Fouquet, who says he never harbored ambitions for the C-Suite in his early years, says this should extend to the subjects young people choose to study at university, arguing it is more important to do something you enjoy than taking a career-focused approach.
The ASML CEO says this approach to career development can help segment progression into two parts, focused on gaining influence before learning how to use it.
“I think the first part of your career is about proving yourself, I truly believe that,” said Fouquet, adding he realized this part of his life had concluded when he took charge of a product unit at ASML more than a decade ago.
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“And then you look forward, you say, okay, what’s next… what can I do to help and where is the place where I can do something that matters?”
Fouquet’s role has transformed during his time at ASML. At $230 billion, the group is worth orders of magnitude more than when he joined the company in 2008.
Shares in the group ballooned following the COVID-19 pandemic, first during a broad increase in demand for tech shares and again during the AI boom.
The company supplies its lithography machines to the world’s biggest companies, including Nvidia, which allows the production of advanced semiconductors used in AI applications.
As a key part of the global supply chain, Foquest’s role is only likely to grow in significance.
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared on Fortune.com on February 12, 2025.