Progressing to the Chief People Officer (CPO) role requires more than functional expertise. It demands commercial fluency, a strategic mindset that aligns people and business performance and ideally board-level exposure. For ambitious People & Culture or HR professionals, and for the leaders guiding them, the path to the top must be both intentional and adaptive.
Rethinking the Path to the Top
The role of the CPO has evolved into one of the most strategically and commercially significant positions within the executive team. As businesses navigate rapid transformation, challenging macro-economic conditions, technological evolution, culture change, and talent shortages, CPOs are expected to drive enterprise-wide impact, not only manage HR Operations.
For functional leaders aiming to step into this space, the journey demands a deliberate mix of stakeholder management skills, functional breadth and depth, personal characteristics such as curiosity, resilience and intellectual agility, combined with commercial acumen.
Building Blocks: Early and Mid-Career Experiences That Matter
The route to CPO often begins with strong experience in business partnering. Supporting revenue-generating functions early in a career exposes HR professionals to the complexities of team dynamics, operational demands, and commercial trade-offs. This proximity sharpens communication skills and builds enterprise-wide relationships.
As HR leaders grow, the ability to lead teams, navigate conflict, influence stakeholders, and drive change becomes increasingly important. While generalist experience lays the groundwork, specialist exposure, particularly in reward and talent, offers significant advantages. Experience in executive remuneration, succession planning, or capability assessment provides meaningful interaction with boards and external advisors, all of which are additive to the modern CPO remit.
Moving Beyond People & Culture or HR: Building Commercial Muscle
One of the most valuable differentiators for a future CPO is time spent outside the function. Taking on roles in operations, customer experience, or even managing a profit-and-loss unit allows HR leaders to develop a deeper understanding of the business. It also fosters empathy with peers across the executive team.
This kind of cross-functional exposure doesn’t just expand perspective. It builds what many boards and CEOs are looking for: a commercially minded people leader who can connect culture to performance and HR strategy to bottom-line outcomes.
Timeframes: What a Realistic Progression Looks Like
Progression to CPO varies by organisation, sector and opportunity, but a useful guide is 3 – 4 years in each senior role, with time to show clear delivery of outcomes. This provides an opportunity to design and implement meaningful change, build relationships, correct mistakes and cultivate successors.
In parallel, shorter stints of around 2 years in project-based roles, such as post-acquisition integration or restructuring, can often provide concentrated learning and high-stakes delivery. These experiences provide a platform for developing agility and executive presence, both essential qualities in a CPO.
Leadership Isn’t One Path: The Value of Specialist Depth
Not every impactful HR role involves managing large teams. Specialist roles in reward, organisational design, or analytics can offer deep influence through subject matter expertise and close work with senior stakeholders.
That said, those aiming for the CPO seat will ultimately need to embrace broader leadership responsibilities. Leading diverse teams, managing complexity, and shaping organisational culture is fundamental to the top job. Technical depth must be matched with leadership breadth.
The Manager’s Role: Facilitating Growth and Practical Exposure
The most effective leaders guide career development through practical exposure, mentoring, and feedback. They identify gaps, stretch potential, and create opportunities to learn. High-performing CPOs model this mindset themselves. They remain curious, adaptive, and open to new perspectives. They seek out new challenges and encourage others to step outside their comfort zone.
Aligning Individual Growth with Organisational Strategy
One of the CPO’s core responsibilities is to ensure talent is aligned with the strategic direction of the business, identifying current and future capability requirements and ensuring appropriate talent acquisition, development and retention that benefit both the individual and the organisation.
Done well, this alignment supports not only career progression but also workforce agility. Leaders who understand both individual ambition and business priorities are better equipped to build resilient, high-performing teams ready to meet future challenges.
Why It Matters: The Business Impact of Career Mapping in HR
Strategic career mapping leads to measurable outcomes. It increases engagement, boosts retention, and strengthens succession pipelines. It also sends a clear message that the People & Culture function is a vital contributor to enterprise performance. CPOs and their teams play a critical role in an organisation’s success by helping to anticipate business needs, develop versatile leaders, and embed a culture of growth.
Shaping the Next Generation of People Leaders
Becoming a CPO is about more than climbing the ladder. It requires a commercial mindset, an appetite for challenge, and a commitment to continuous learning. The journey is not linear, but with the right experiences, exposure, and support, it is highly rewarding.
CPOs need to demonstrate robust business insight, financial acumen, strong relationship building skills, resilience, tenacity, intellectual agility and a desire to be held accountable. The remit of the CPO role is expanding. It is a critical partner to the CEO and plays a pivotal role in an organisation’s success.
