Recently, a major international publication interviewed me on lateral and down career moves and their implications to one’s reputation and career. What prompted this topic was the recent announcement by Apple, appointing Burberry’s CEO Angela Ahrendts to head its retail and on-line store operations as an SVP, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. This announcement comes on the heels of yet another such by Apple in early July appointing Parisian fashion house Yvers Saint Laurent’s CEO Paul Devenve as yet another high-level executive, also reporting to Tim Cook.
In both these—and other such moves—one would interpret the change as a “down” move because of the obvious lower title in each case, joining another company reporting to a CEO when they were themselves in that position at their previous employers, doing quite well. The main question was: Is such a move a beneficial one to one’s career?
Let us examine what is happening here:
In the case of Angela Ahrendts she took charge of this tarnished—almost moribund—brand, Burberry, known for over 100 years that was losing sales, was stuck in the past, and had no clear recovery plan. Ahrendts in 2007 was then running the retail brand Liz Claiborne and decided to take on the challenge by transplanting herself and her family from New York to Burberry’s HQs in London and quickly made it a coveted luxury fashion powerhouse through a series of transformational moves that not only brought that brand back to life, but quickly went on to dominate the luxury fashion goods market, tripling its revenues to nearly $3B/Year with an equally impressive boost to its stock price.
With this tour de force and her past successes at previous retail brands, Ahrendts became the turnaround magician in the high-fashion and luxury retail industry, which is even more dynamic and fickle than the world of high-tech, where companies’ fortunes shift overnight. So, with this success under her belt why would she leave her CEO position to take a “lesser” title at another company?
Burberry is now a 3B/Yr. luxury goods powerbrand and growing. Apple’s retail operations (400 stores, iTunes and other online sales) are at least 12 times that size. Both these operations suffer from a variety of well-publicized ailments. The stores lost much of their image to the previous boss, who reduced their customer focus by cutting staff and costs. This got him fired from that job and Apple was looking for rebuilding that image with redoubled efforts. When Ahrendts joins Apple next Spring, its retail operations would be without a chief for nearly 18 months. So, during the past year as Tim Cook was looking for the right leadership to head its retail operations Apple took the bold step of redefining itself as a fashion brand by first hiring Paul Devenve and then executing this Ahrendts coup. For both these executives they now get to work on the world’s top brand to make that even stronger, a challenge that both of these veterans will relish and on which they are likely to deliver. Only time will tell how this all will translate into further purifying the Apple brand.
So, what are some of the factors to consider when making a career change that involves moving “down” or “laterally”? Here is my guidance:
- First look at what industry defines you. In some traditional or legacy verticals—Energy, banking, finance, utilities, manufacturing, and other such verticals a lateral move can be interpreted negatively. This can cause grief when changing jobs. But, in other industries, retail, high-tech, entertainment, social media, gaming, such moves are more common and accepted as par for the course.
- More importantly, it is what you get to do in your new role regardless of the title in your new job. In the case of Paul Devenve he would be working as an Advisor to Cook helping Apple define a new direction of how to translate its already powerful brand into a fashion statement. If he succeeds it will transform Apple as a fashion brand on top of its already established reputation as the most coveted consumer product brand on the planet. Same with Ahrendts. Here she will get to transform Apple’s retail operations that are X12 Burberry’s and make an impact in how Apple retails its prized products with a much more compelling customer experience.
- When managing your career what is important is not your title progression, but the progression of your accomplishments and size of the canvas you get to work on. So, look for momentum, the size of your canvas, and the impact you get to leave as your legacy in your new role.
- If a lateral or down move allows you to fortify your skillset by getting exposed to new challenges, new learning opportunities, and new vistas to conquer then by all means it is a career move that can only enhance your résumé even if you do not fully succeed in your attempts to achieve your set goals. Results are important, but what is also important is what you get to do in your new role and how you managed that opportunity.
- When you feel stuck in your current role that is stagnant, or working on technology that is passé and you want to re-energize your career momentum by embracing new learning opportunities offered in high-growth areas it may be worthwhile to make a lateral or down move into the new area and quickly regain the momentum after you learn the ropes. Here, you get to ride the momentum out to get yourself back into the orbit.
Career evolution is no longer a linear growth curve, it is full of crooked and wicked paths that need to be explored with an adventurer’s mindset and conquered in the spirit of learning something new at every turn.
Good luck!