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The path to the C-suite is evolving, and executives in the HR space are at the center of the shift.
Between 2022 and 2023, chief human resources officer (CHRO) was the third-fastest growing C-suite role on LinkedIn, according to an analysis of executives at S&P 500 companies and unicorn startups recently released by the company’s economic graph team. Chief people officer (CPO) claimed the ninth spot on LinkedIn’s list of the 10 fastest-growing C-suite jobs.
This growth is, in part, a reflection of the shifting expectations for HR leaders in light of new technological advancements, Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer, told HR Brew.
Talent takes center stage. When it comes to AI, the role of CHROs and CPOs is increasingly intersecting with that of CEOs and chief technology officers (CTO), Raman said.
“The benefits…of all this new technology that people are talking about with AI won’t come until companies have change management on the people side,” he said. This means that companies have to be thinking about what AI means for talent and organizational design—there is a push, for example, to start describing jobs as a set of tasks, rather than with titles.
“Everything that everyone’s talking about as it relates to AI is now squarely with the CPO, the CHRO,” he added. As a result, some HR leaders are looking to combine their budgets with the CTO, invest further in a “culture of learning,” or set an example for their workforces by using AI themselves.
These shifting expectations will require HR leaders to think about their roles differently if they’re eyeing the C-suite, Raman predicted, tapping into neuroscience or organizational design principles “to think about how teams should come together to create new innovation and new ideas for businesses.”
A circuitous path to the C-suite. The LinkedIn analysis also shows that C-suite and executive level employees’ prior work experiences are diversifying. The share of employees who only worked in one industry before holding one of these leadership roles dropped 23 percentage points between 2018 and 2023, from 89% to 66%. The report tracked a similar drop among C-suite leaders and executives who only held one job function before being hired in a top role.
Such trends suggest that corporate leaders who have built their careers in areas like product, finance, or sales might become interested in making the leap to a CHRO or CPO role, and vice versa.
“I think you’re going to see in the C-suite, generally, but within the talent function, a lot of movement of people across what previously would have been a line that people didn’t cross,” Raman said.