CEO of Europe’s biggest chip company finds this common question asked by youngsters ‘wrong,’ and his answer is the ‘right question’

Christophe Fouquet, CEO of Europe’s biggest chip company, ASML, finds one question from young professionals absurd: ‘How could I become a CEO?’ He has advice for these ambitious individuals. “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,” Fouquet said during an appearance on Norges Bank Investment Management CEO Nicolai Tangen’s podcast “In Good Company.”

As head of the Fortune 500 Europe lithography company, Fouquet leads one of the world’s most strategically significant semiconductor firms.