I have a very uncomfortable challenge for you: Cite 10 companies in the current Fortune 500 which have promoted the top human resources officer to CEO. Just give me 10. That´s 2%.
Can´t do it, can you? If you investigated, you might find CEOs who spent time working in human resources during their careers, and good for them. And you may have come up with a notable example or two of HR senior officers who were elevated to the top job, but that scarcity just proves my rule.
The rule: People promoted to the top human resource positions are inevitably NOT deemed to have potential for the chief executive position. The people put there are at the end of their run, or deemed "safe" not to rock the boat, or are simply shunted aside.
Think about it. CEOs often emerge from the top sales, R&D, financial, operations, manufacturing, and even general counsel positions. In the insurance industry they have often been the top actuary; in investment, the top broker; in hospitals, the head of ambulatory care or medical services.
But the CEO position is virtually never filled by the top HR person. That says something about the profession, because the phenomenon spans industries, geographies, and size. HR is an isolated silo.
Years ago I wrote an article explaining that HR should never be a career, but rather a transitory place in which most managers should serve but never take root. Enraged HR professionals wrote in to state that I was mad, that HR was a professional career track like any other, and that the discipline required specialized training and service. I will bet that every one of those writers either has left HR for better paying work, or is stuck in HR not influencing their organization very much-and that not one of them is currently the CEO of their original firm.
Training and HR publications love to put HR executives on their covers, and extol the profound influence they´ve had on productivity and strategy implementation. They are true "partners" who have "a place at the table." But you never see those people on the covers of major news publications. The position is mostly uninteresting and largely ineffective, and the incumbents are mainly unimpressive, company and industry PR attempts notwithstanding.
The highest-ranking minority or female officer in many organizations is in charge of HR (or legal or "administration"). Beware. This is just another example of the "shunted aside" phenomenon which pays lip service to an equal opportunity workplace. "Look how progressive we are: We´ve promoted this person to a position we truly don´t care about and don´t respect. But she´s making good money."
If you want to become a CEO, get out of human resources BEFORE you get near the top. But if you want to get to the top of HR, just stay there and try not to offend anyone.
Alan Weiss, Ph.D. is the author of 25 books appearing in seven languages. His newest, The Million Dollar ConsultingTM Toolkit, was released by John Wiley in late 2005. He serves on several boards, including the Harvard University Center for Mental Health and the Media. You can reach him at alan@summitconsulting.com.
