Spectrum business is made to work the way small business works, made to rise and grind,

made to start small, but think big, and made to do it all with fast, easy-to-use internet

phone and mobile services that work as hard as you. Visit Spectrum.com slash work to learn more.

I'm Rufus Griskim, and this is the next big idea.

Today, number 18 in our countdown of the top 22 books of last year, chosen by users of our next

big idea app. What does it take to be a great CEO? No, really, how the heck do you do it?

I'm asking not just because I'm somehow lucky enough to be CEO of the next big idea club.

It's also the subject of the new book, The CEO Test. Master the challenges that make or

break all leaders by Adam Bryant and Kevin Sherer. These guys know what they're talking about.

Adam wrote the quarter office column for The New York Times, wonderful column,

and has interviewed hundreds of executives about how they lead. His co-author, Kevin Sherer,

spent over two decades as CEO of the multinational pharmaceutical company Amgen. Together,

they offer both theoretical and practical knowledge to anyone trying to succeed in business.

Here is Adam with five ideas from the book.

Hi, everyone. This is Adam Bryant. I'm a co-author of our new book, The CEO Test. Master the

challenges that make or break all leaders. I was thrilled to work on this project with Kevin

Sherer, the former CEO of Amgen, the giant biotech company. We combined the breadth of my 600-plus

interviews with CEOs that I've conducted as a New York Times journalist and now as a leadership

consultant with American company. We combine that with Kevin's deep experience as a chief executive

board director and mentor to global CEOs. Our book isn't just for CEOs. It's about the core

challenges that all leaders face and we provide a practical playbook on how to navigate those

universal challenges. We really wanted to create a kind of simple and shared language around

...