Am I Today on the Career Path That Will Matter Tomorrow?

Dr. Daniela Haze Stöckli
May 8
4 min read

Updated: May 28

Most C-level executives never ask themselves this question in time. Not because they lack ambition. But because the day-to-day demands attention, the next transformation is already waiting, and strategic self-reflection gets systematically postponed — until the search process is underway. And by then, it's too late.

At the top of listed Swiss companies, no experiments are made, according to the WITENA CEO & Board Report 2025. 87% of new CEOs come from front-line functions with direct P&L responsibility. The path is clearly defined — but it requires lead time. More than most people account for.

And that path is becoming more complex. The demands on executive leadership are shifting fundamentally. Operational credibility remains a prerequisite — but it is no longer sufficient on its own.

What Executive Leadership Will Need to Deliver Tomorrow

The responsibilities at C-level are shifting — away from functional silo thinking, toward a new form of strategic overall accountability. Five competency areas will make the difference going forward.

Lead AI strategically — don't delegate it: Who decides where AI creates value, where it poses risks, and how the governance of agentic systems should look?

Regulatory Intelligence as a leadership competency: EU AI Act, CSRD, NIS2, DORA — these requirements are interconnected and evolving faster than traditional compliance structures can respond. Those who fail to anticipate regulatory dynamics lose strategic room to maneuver.

Operational resilience under permanent volatility: Efficiency alone is no longer a sufficient guiding principle. The operating model of the coming years must be simultaneously stable and adaptable — capable of navigating geopolitical shifts, supply chain disruptions, and technological disruption.

Lead transformation — don't just manage it: Digital transformation doesn't fail because of technology. It fails because change is not embedded organizationally. Executive teams must understand transformation as an iterative learning process and actively shape it with cultural support and clear accountability.

Decision-making under uncertainty: The half-life of planning assumptions is shrinking. Executive leaders will think less in stable roadmaps and more in scenarios, options, and speed of adaptation. Strategic foresight is evolving from a niche discipline into a universal leadership competency.

What This Means for Your Own Career Planning

Operational credibility and proven P&L responsibility remain the decisive selection criteria at the top. That hasn't changed — but they are no longer enough on their own.

Anyone who seriously wants to be considered for a C-level role or a board mandate in five years needs an honest answer to three questions today:

Where does my demonstrable accountability for results lie — and is it externally visible and accessible to a nomination committee?
What is my leadership narrative — precise, differentiated, positioned for tomorrow's requirements, not yesterday's?
Which of the five competency areas am I already actively developing today — and where are my blind spots?

These questions require deep self-reflection without self-deception — and a conversation partner who is neither a superior nor a colleague. Someone who understands the selection logic at the top, has no agenda of their own, and speaks plainly about what they see. Even when the answer is uncomfortable.

Strategic Workforce Planning: What Is at Stake Now

Strategic workforce planning is the organizational counterpart to this question. Not as an HR process, but as a CEO and board-level responsibility. Today, this is systematically underestimated in Swiss boardrooms.

The leadership profiles an organization will need at C-level in three to five years must already be in the pipeline today — not recruited, but developed. Because operational credibility, technological adaptability, regulatory understanding, and strategic judgment are not built in a search process. They are built over years of targeted leadership experience, critical reflection, and forward-thinking career development.

Boards and CEOs should be able to answer these questions precisely:

What tasks will a member of the executive team be handling in three to five years?
Derived from that: what leadership profiles will we need at C-level in three to five years?
Where are the structural bottlenecks in the leadership pipeline — and which of them can still be addressed today?
What transformation of leadership culture is needed so that the next generation can handle tasks that are not yet fully defined today?

Those who cannot answer these questions precisely are carrying a strategic risk — regardless of how strong the current executive team is. And a board that cannot today name two or three viable internal succession candidates for the CEO role has a governance problem.

For boards and CEOs, this means an unflinching analysis of the leadership pipeline, succession scenarios with strategic depth, and development paths that begin today — not when the chair is already empty.

For leaders on their way to the top, this means career sparring that aligns their own biography with the selection logic of the top, sharpens their leadership narrative, and provides a strategic foundation for the career decisions of the next 24 months.

You lead an executive team today or are on your way there: Which of the five competency areas is still missing from your leadership biography — and what are you doing concretely about it in the next twelve months?

Sources: WITENA CEO & Board Report 2025 | Trendradar – Skills of the Future – Update 2026 by Deutsches Zukunftsinstitut