The journey to leadership now follows a squiggly line compared to a linear path. Getty Images
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Making your way to the C-suite is no longer the straightforward climb it once was. Leaders are making lateral moves, and occasionally even taking a step back in their journey to the top, according to a top career expert.
The old model of corporate leadership involved getting a degree, working at the same company for decades, rising through the ranks, and eventually taking the corner office, Aneesh Raman, the chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn, tells Fortune in a video interview. But the model of “predictability and stability” is gone, and people are now proudly job hopping and coming into top roles with a wider range of experience.
“What’s changing about careers is that they used to be a ladder, and now they are a path,” Aneesh Raman, the chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn, tells Fortune. “So you’re seeing a bunch of people move around from different functions, whether it’s starting in finance and going into HR.”
Today, about 64% of executives have only worked in one industry their whole careers, compared to 89% in 2018, according to a new report from LinkedIn. They’re also bringing expertise from different companies—around 61% of C-suite members today have only worked at one organization, compared to 88% in 2018. And in 2024, around 57% of executives have only ever worked in one job function, compared to 87% in 2018.
Candidates with a more varied professional background are appealing to companies because they bring more “agility and mobility,” and often have a more eclectic approach to solving modern workforce problems.
“The higher up you go, the more adaptability is going to become a required skill, and so the squiggly line just becomes a badge around adaptability,” he says.
Raman says that C-suite professionals who are eager to learn and lead in different functions, industries, and companies will be the most successful.
“Develop people skills, but start to find and feature curiosity,” Raman says. “Find your curiosity so that as you become a leader, you’re both able to lead in a way that is anchored around your people skills, but you’re also able to bring that expertise around your issue area.”
Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com
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