Consider an Untraditional Path to the C-Suite—Like the New CEO of Levi Strauss Did
When we think of moving up the ladder, we tend to think that someone will bring us the ideal job and that we might become stagnant by waiting for that next opportunity. However, Michelle Gass, prior CEO of Kohl’s and the incoming CEO of Levi Strauss, is a woman who took an untraditional path to her current C-level role. She agreed to first move from her Kohl’s CEO role to become president at Levi’s en route to the Levi’s CEO spot, which some would see as a temporary career path demotion.
Gass, with the support of Levi Strauss, told Fortune magazine that she preferred to take the long view and not miss the opportunity to go deep into the business, assessing the opportunities to take Levi’s to another level before becoming the company’s CEO. While Gass took the risk to initially “step down” to the president role, her bold move was a great example of a different way to crack the traditional means for succession and advancement at the senior level.
Many executives who’ve made it to the C-suite knew that they wanted to be in that top role from early on. They stayed totally focused on their goal, taking only roles that would be stepping stones to the CEO level. But as Gass’s experience revealed, that path may not always be linear. For example, a male tech exec who I interviewed for my book Make Room for Her shared with me that he didn’t mind what he did or where he did it in his company, as long as he could learn about a different part of the business. Like Gass, this executive understood that contributing value and gaining knowledge and experience would set him up to eventually attain a CEO role—and indeed he is a CEO today.
Some women I speak with via SHAMBAUGH Leadership’s executive coaching practice for women and our Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL) program—which is known for preparing and lifting women into senior leadership and executive/C-suite roles—get stuck. Often that’s because of failing to think about longer-term goals, instead getting hung up on job titles or power positions. Some might be hoping only to take their manager’s job when he or she moves on, without considering other less obvious ways they might advance their career. It’s savvier and more strategic to do the latter, keeping your options open as Gass did, since in a corporate environment, there are no guarantees and things can change when you least expect it.
In my next post, I’ll share SHAMBAUGH’s specific practices for navigating to the C-suite and other executive levels — straight from SHAMBAUGH Leadership’s coaching practice and WILL, where we work closely with women who are currently executives or aspiring to advance to the C-suite, providing targeted practices, strategies, and essential behaviors to reach the senior level.
If you or your team have advice for women in leadership that you’d like to share or questions you’d like to ask about this topic, please reach out to me at info@shambaughleadership.com.
Learn more about SHAMBAUGH’s Nationally Recognized Coaching and Development Program for Women and our other offerings on Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Keynotes and Fireside Chats
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Rebecca Shambaugh discusses Resetting Your Playbook for Leadership
A Conversation with Robert Reiss, CEO of The CEO Forum Group, on leadership in a collaborative world and three things that need to happen to achieve gender balance.
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Rebecca Shambaugh is a recognized author and speaker on leadership best practices. She is president of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, founder of Women in Leadership and Learning, and author of the bestselling books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor. Read Rebecca’s best-selling Harvard Business Review article “To Sound Like a Leader About What You Say and How and When You Say It.
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