Corporations say they prioritize people. So why do so few chief people officers become CEOs?

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.

Leaders juggle a lot of demands and priorities. However, most CEOs tell me they’re highly attentive to company culture, change management, and workforce transformation in the age of AI—all areas that their chief human resources officers (CHROs) or chief people officers (CPOs) are tackling, too, notes Jennifer Wilson, cohead of the global Human Resources Officer practice at leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles.

“The only other seat besides CEO that has a cross-enterprise view is the chief human resources officer,” Wilson says. “The best CHROs these days are weighing in and shaping strategy around big corporate issues.”

Yet CHROs are rarely tapped for the CEO role. Heidrick & Struggles’s data shows that only 16 CEOs at America’s 1,000 largest companies by revenue have previous HR experience.

An overlooked role

Most of those executives worked in HR as part of their climb up the corporate ladder. General Motors CEO Mary Barra, for example, was a vice president of global human resources at GM for two years between roles as a vice president of global manufacturing engineering and a promotion to senior vice president of global product development. Joanna Geraghty, CEO of JetBlue Airways, was the CPO of the airline for four years after serving as associate general counsel and before moving to an executive vice president role overseeing customer experience.

More unusual is the case of Leena Nair, who was the CHRO at Unilever when Chanel, the privately held luxury brand, recruited her to be its global CEO.

At a time when chief financial officers, chief technology officers, and even lawyers are moving to the CEO role, Tami Rosen, chief development officer and a board member at Pagaya, an AI-powered fintech, and former CPO at Atlassian, says overlooking HR executives is a miss. “For too long, CHRO and CPO roles have been miscast as operational or administrative when in reality they are the only seats with a true 360-degree view of the company, driving strategy, mission, culture, risk, performance, and people,” she says.

The CEO’s support system

Megan Myungwon Lee was CHRO and vice president of corporate planning and strategic initiatives when she was promoted to chairwoman and CEO of Panasonic North America in 2021. Lee says Osaka, Japan–based Panasonic has a history of viewing HR, finance, and strategy as a three-legged stool supporting the CEO. “In Japan, if you hire a person, it’s a $3 million investment because people usually retire with the company,” she notes. “It’s not a variable cost.”

Lee says her experiences in HR—Panasonic initially hired her as a bilingual secretary—exposed her directly and indirectly to all aspects of the company. It has also shaped her leadership style. “Being a leader is like [being] a parent in that you lead with empathy—guiding, setting boundaries, and making tough decisions—while always asking, ‘How would I want someone to treat my own children in this situation?’”

Boards of directors may disregard CHROs in their CEO succession planning for any number of reasons: Some want their chief executive to have client-facing experience; a tech company may prioritize a leader with an engineering background. But Pagaya’s Rosen says boards ignore HR talent at their peril. “More CHROs and CPOs should be elevated to CEO because theirs is the most well-rounded role in the company, connected to the business, the strategy, the culture, and every team,” she says.

Does your team elevate HR pros to the top?

Does your company have a CPO or CHRO who is a candidate to succeed the CEO? If so, what are the reasons why your company may elevate them? I’d like to hear your stories. Send them in an email to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com.

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