Top strategy jobs are seen as just a pit-stop on the road to a more important role (CEO) but one CSO for a global corporation thinks differently (paraphrased) …
“… It really annoys me that every head-hunter I hear from brings me strategy jobs with the promise that ‘it’s just a stepping stone to CEO‘ as if head of strategy was somehow not a valid senior position in its own right, like CFO or VP of Marketing or HR. I don’t expect or want to be CEO of this or any other company. Several colleagues in operations, marketing and finance would be better for the top job. But strategy is what I’m real good at – I know stuff and can do stuff that they wouldn’t have a clue about. …”