September2024

LinkedinEconomicGraph

StateoftheC-SuiteandExecutivesReport

Keylnsights

●Theresponsibilitiesofseniorleadersarebroadening,andthisimpliesthattheskillsrequiredtoleadarealsochanging.UsingLinkedlndata,westudythecareerandskillspatternsofexecutiveswhoworkattheS&P500andventure-backedUS“unicorn”companies.

●ThepercentageofsoftskillslistedonLinkedlnproflesbyUSexecutiveshiredinoursamplein2018vs.2023grew31%.Someofthefastest

growingsoftskillsarepresentations,strategicthinking,andstorytelling.

●Thepathtobecominganexecutiveisnotaslinearasitusedtobe.VPsandC-Suiteexecsnowcometothejobhavingworkedinmore

industries,jobfunctions,andcompanies.Forexample,thepercentageofleaderswhohaveonlyworkedinoneindustrydropped26%from

2018to2023.

●DemographicdiversityofexecutivesintheS&P500andUS-basedunicorncompaniesisincreasing.Inthelastfiveyears,thepercentageofwomenleadershasincreasedby10%.

CarolineLiongosari

DataScientist

EconomicGraphResearchInstitute

cliongosari@

SilviaLara

SeniorDataScientistEconomicGraph

ResearchInstitute

slara@

SharatRaghavan

Director,DataScienceEconomicGraph

ResearchInstitute

shraghavan@

TheRoleoftheExecutiveis

Changing

Whatmakesaneffectiveseniorleader?Increasingly,thatquestionleadstocapabilitiesatthecoreofcommunication,culture,andteamworkratherthananarrowsetoftechnicaloroperationalskills.

Researchershavesuggestedseveralfactorsforthisshift,includingtheincreasingorganizational

complexityandafocusoninsightsandcreativity(includingsocialmedia).Thischangehasimportantimplicationsforhowcompaniestrainoridentifyfutureleaders.Italsocancreateawiderfunnelof

candidateswhoshouldbeconsideredforseniorleadershiproles.

LinkedinEconomicGraph

StateoftheC-suiteandExecutivesReport

Besideshowrolesarechanging,wealsoseeshiftsinhowfirmsareprioritizingcertainexecutive

functions.BasedonLinkedlndata,thetoptenfastestgrowingCXOrolesfrom2022and2023are:

1.ChiefDataOfficer2.ChiefLegalOfficer

3.ChiefHumanResourcesOfficer4.ChiefProductOfficer

5.ChiefExecutiveOfficer

6.ChiefTechnologyOfficer7.ChiefCommercialOfficer

8.ChiefInformationSecurityOfficer9.ChiefPeopleOfficer

10.ChiefMarketingOfficer

ThislistpaintsapictureofcompaniesprioritizingAl,dataknowledge,andprivacyintheirleadershipranks,whilealsobalancingthatwithastrongfocusonexecutivepositionsfocusedonpeopleand

humancapability.Therestofthisreportdivesintospecificsofhowexecutives'skills,workexperiences,anddemographicshaveshiftedinthelastseveralyears.

ExecutivesarePrioritizingDifferentSkills

Inordertoexaminetrendsinexecutiveskills,theEconomicGraphResearchInstituteanalyzedC-SuiteandVP-levelexecutivesintheS&P500andUS-based“unicorn”companiesidentifiedbyPitchbook's

Unicorncompaniestracker.Oneofthefirsttrendswefoundisashiftintheskillslistedonleaders

profiles.TechnicalskillsarebecomingslightlylessprominentamongC-suitesandexecutives.13.1%ofallskilllistedonC-Suitesandexecutives'Linkedlnprofileswhowerehiredin2023weretechnicalskils.Thisisadecreasecomparedto2018whenthatnumberwas14.7%.Also,despitemanyexecutives

clamoringforAlskilledtalent,theythemselvesaretrailingtherestoftheworkforcewhenitcomestoAIliteracyskills(skillsinusingAltechnologiessuchasChatGPT,PromptEngineering,andCopilot):therehasbeenalessthanl%growthintheshareofthemaddingsuchskillsontheirLinkedlnprofilesfrom2023to2024compared28.2%growthfortherestoftheworkforce.

Atthesametime,softskillsarebecomingmoreandmoreprominentamongleaders'profilestoday.9.6%ofskillslistedbyhiredC-Suitesandexecutivesin2023weresoftskills,anincreaseof31%

comparedto2018whenitwasonly7.3%.Whilesoftskillshavealwaysbeenimportant,thisrecentuptickcouldbecapturingsomeofthetrendsdiscussedaboveorevendemographicshiftsinthecompositionofseniorleaders.

Asourpreviousresearchfinds,womentendtolistahighershareofsoftskilsthanmenontheirprofiles.IntheUS,13.9%ofwomen'sskillsaresoftskills,comparedtoll.5%ofmen'sskills.AndincreasinglyasAIchangestheskillsetsrequiredfornearlyalljobs,softskilsareemergingastheuniquelyhumanabilities

thatmoreexecutivesarefocusedonbuildingforthemselvesandtheirteams.

StateoftheC-suiteandExecutivesReport

TheTopl0FastestGrowingSoftSkillsinC-SuitesandExecutivesare:

l.Presentations

2.StrategicThinking3.Communication

4.StrategicVision

5.ConflictResolution/Negotiation

6.OrganizationSkills7.ProblemSolving

8.Leadership/TeamManagement

9.Teamwork

10.Storytelling

CareerPathstoC-SuiteandExecutive-levelRoles

areBecomingLessLinear

Inadditiontochangingskils,wefindthatthepathwaystoC-Suitesandexecutivelevelrolesarealso

changing.Justfiveyearsago,itwasmorecommonforC-suitesandexecutivestohaveonlyworkedinoneindustry,onejobfunction,orevenonecompanypriortolandingtheirfirstleadershiprole.Thatpathisstartingtolooklesslineartoday.In2018,89.2%ofC-SuitesandexecutivesworkedinonlyoneindustrybeforetheirC-Suiterolecomparedto66.0%ofthemin2023,a26%drop.Similarly,thepercentageofC-suitesandexecutiveswhoonlyworkedinonejobfunctiondroppedfrom86.9%in2018to594%in

2023.88.5%ofC-Suitesandexecutivesin2018usedtoworkforonlyonecompanypriortotheirC-Suiteorexecutiverolecomparedtoonly62.6%in2023.Allthesetrendsindicatethatdiverseemployment

experienceisbecomingmoreimportantforleadershiproles.

ThedesirefordiverseexperiencesisalsoseeninthedeclineofinternalhiresintoC-Suitesandexecutivepositions.In2023,46.2%ofC-Suitesandexecutiveswerehiredinternally.That'sdownfrom50.8%in

2018,al0%decline.

WealsofoundthatwomeninC-Suiteorexecutiverolesarealsomorelikelytobringadiverserangeofemploymentexperiencescomparedtomen.In2023,26.8%offemaleC-Suitesandexecutivesworked

intwoormoreindustriespriortotheirleadershiprolecomparedto24.0%ofmaleC-Suitesand

executives.42.1%ofthemalsoworkedintwoormorejobfunctionscomparedto39.4%oftheirmale

counterparts.Additionally,38.3%ofthemworkedintwoormorecompaniescomparedto37.5%ofmen.

StateoftheC-suiteandExecutivesReport

GenderDifferencesinJobExperiencesPriortoHoldingaLeadershipRolein2023

■Workedin2+industries■Workedin2+JobFunctions■Workedin2+Companies

Source:LinkedlnEconomicGraph

TheDemographicsofExecutivesareChanging

Lastly,thedemographicsofexecutivesarealsoevolvingthroughagender,educational,andgenerationallens:

Gender

Whilewearestillfarfromequalgenderrepresentation,therearemorefemaleexecutivesthaneverbefore:in2023,38.5%ofexecutiveswerewomencomparedto34.8%in2018,amountingtoa10%relativeincreaseinthespanof5years.Thisisequivalenttoa2.04%compoundannualgrowthrate(CAGR).IfweassumethisCAGRcontinuesinthefuture,thesecompaniesareexpectedtoreachgenderparityby2036.

StateoftheC-suiteandExecutivesReport

Thesefindingsbuildoffour'Progressandbarriersinglobalgenderleadershipreport,whichfoundthat37.4%ofpositionsDirectorlevelandabove)intheUSwereheldbywomeninearly2023.Another

findinginthatreportwasthatinequitystartsearlierinthecareerladder,withthefirstsignsofgendergapsemerginginmorejuniormanagementpositions,withgapsevenmoreprevalentinSTEMandtechnicalfields.

Weseeasimilarpatternofdropoffinthisanalysis:withwomenmakingup41.9%ofemployeesoverall,butonly38.5%ofexecutivepositions.Whilewomenhavemademeaningfulstridestobreakintomoreofthesecompaniesandtopjobssince2018,overthepastcoupleofyearswehavealsoseenaconcerningslowdown,asshowninthechartbelow.Thisprogressstallhasbeenobservedgloballyandcouldbe

attributedtoatougherhiringenvironmentforwomenleadersduetoanunevenimpactofeconomic

uncertaintyandchanginglabormarkettightness(Laraetal,2024).

ChangeintheMakeupofLeadersbyGender(2016-2023)

-------%Mer----%Women

Source:LinkedlnEconomicGraph

EducationalBackground

Asskills-basedhiringcontinuestogainsteamamongmajoremployers,theseS&P500andunicorn

companiesarerethinkingtheeducationalcredentialsrequiredtolead.There'sbeenal2.6%increaseintheshareofexecutiveswithoutbachelor'sdegrees(highschooldegree,associatedegree,tradeschoolorskilledthroughalternativeroutes(STAR),a2.1%increaseintheshareofexecutiveswithbachelor'sdegrees,anda2%decreaseintheshareofthemwithgraduatedegreesbetween2018and2023

amongthesecompanies.We'veseenasimilarsentimentshiftinotherrecentresearch,withLinkedln's

StateoftheC-suiteandExecutivesReport

ExecutiveConfidenceIndexfinding60%ofUSexecutivesbelievetherearebetterwaystotrainanddevelopworkersunrelatedtoafour-yeardegree,vs34%whosaythefour-yeardegreeisstillthebestapproach.

GenerationalShift

Anewgenerationofleadersistakingthehelmattoday'stopcompanies.MillennialshavebeengrowingintheranksofexecutivesandwillsoonovertakeGenXasthemostprominentgenerationinleadershipjobs.In2023,Millennialsmadeup44.8%ofleadersandGenXmadeup45.7%.Fiveyearsago,the

percentageswere36.9%and52.3%,respectively.Ifprogressweretocontinueatthispace,MillennialsarepoisedtoovertakeGenXnumbersin2025.

ChangeintheMakeupofLeadersbyGeneration(2016-2023)

Source:LinkedlnEconomicGraph

StateoftheC-suiteandExecutivesReport

FinalThoughts

Overthepastfewyears,companieshavebeenleaningontheirleaderstohelpthemnavigatethe

changeshappeningintheworkplace.Fromgettingtheirbusinessesreadyfortransformative

technologieslikegenerativeAl,torethinkingworkplacenormswiththeriseofremoteandhybridwork,tomanagingamulti-generationalworkforce-changeisthenewconstant.Againstthisbackdrop,it'snosurprisethatthisnewsetofchallengeshasdemandedanewapproachtoleadership.Morethanyearspast,we'reseeingexecutiveswholandthetopjobsbringawiderbreadthofindustryexperiences,

emphasizeandprioritizetheirsoftskills,andarelessfocusedontraditionalpedigreesignalsthanthegenerationsofleadersbeforethem.

Whileexecutivesarenotnecessarilyaloneinthisbroaderlabormarketshiftwheremoreprofessionalsaretryingoutmorejobsandcareersthaninyearspast,thistrendreachingeventhetopjobsisastrongsignalthatthenon-linearcareerpathislikelyheretostay.

Appendix

DataandPrivacy.ThisbodyofworkrepresentstheworldseenthroughLinkedlndata,drawnfromtheanonymizedandaggregatedprofileinformationofLinkedln'sl+bilionmembersaroundtheworld.Assuch,itisinfuencedby

howmemberschoosetousetheplatorm,whichcanvarybasedonprofessional,social,andregionalculture,aswellasoverallsiteavailabilityandaccessibility.InpublishingtheseinsightsfromLinkedln'sEconomicGraph,wewanttoprovideaccuratestatisticswhileensuringourmembers'privacy.Asaresult,alldatashowaggregatedinformationforthecorrespondingperiodfollowingstrictdataqualitythresholdsthatpreventdisclosinganyinformationabout

specificindividuals.

Executives/Leaders.Inthisreport,executives/leadersaredefinedasLinkedlnmemberswhohavedirectreports

andleadershipresponsibilitiesforonebusinessfunctionorunitorfortheentirebusinessfunction.TheyareinC-SuitelevelorVP-leveltyperoles.Thisreportonlyanalyzesexecutives/headersintheUSwhoarefromtheS&P500andUS-basedunicorncompanieslistedinPitchbooksUnicornCompaniesTrackerlistedinApril2024.

GenderClassification.Genderidentityisnotbinary,andwerecognizethatsomeLinkedlnmembersidentify

beyondthetraditionalgenderconstructsof“man”and“woman.”Ifnotexplicitlyself-identified,wehaveinferredthegenderofmembersincludedinthisanalysiseitherbythepronounsusedontheirLinkedlnprofilesorinferredbasedonfirstname.Memberswhosegendercouldnotbeinferredaseithermanorwomanwereexcludedfromany

gender-centeredanalyses.

GenerationClassification.ALinkedlnmember'sgeneration(GenZ,Milennial,GenX,BabyBoomer)isinferredbasedongraduationyearslistedontheirLinkedlnprofile.WefollowthePewResearchCenter'sdefinitionforeachgene