Nike’s new CEO is a company lifer — but an expert explains why that’s not a great idea now

• Nike’s new CEO, Elliott Hill, started as an intern and climbed the corporate ladder over 30 years.
• Hill’s career trajectory is rare, with most firms preferring external candidates for top roles.
• Staying in one firm can limit career advancement and salary opportunities, an academic told BI.

Nike’s incoming CEO is no stranger to the sports apparel company, beginning as an intern and working his way all the way up to the top spot.

Elliott Hill will be pulled out of his four-year retirement from the sneaker maker in October to replace current boss John Donohoe, who has led the firm since 2020.

“Nike has always been a core part of who I am,” the incoming president said in a statement.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Hill started in the company as an apparel sales representative intern in 1988 and rotated through several roles during his 32 years there.

The intern-turned-CEO journey is an unusual one, and while there are a handful of examples in the corporate world, it remains relatively rare.

Another success story is that of Ursula Burns, who worked as a mechanical engineering summer intern at Xerox in 1980.

From positions in product development and planning to being an executive assistant and vice president, she was named CEO in July 2009, becoming the first Black woman to head a Fortune 500 firm.

But this is not a common path.

It’s a risky move

“I don’t think I’ve ever recommended to any of my students to stay in the same firm for their whole career,” said Thomas Roulet, professor of organizational sociology and leadership at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.

“In general, you need to accept that if you stay in the same organization, the rate of opportunities and career advancement you are going to get will be lower than what you get if you go elsewhere,” he said.

This is because, for CEO positions in particular, firms tend to go for shiny external newcomers, Roulet explained.

“They are seen as drivers of change,” he said, “they are seen as people who can revolutionize the business.”

Roulet said someone who is new to the firm can make the needed change seem like a viable, exciting option to employees.

There are a lot of pros when it comes to job-hopping

Instead of staying put, moving between different jobs can increase your salary and future prospects, he said.

When you try working for different organizations, you also build your network and get new ideas from competitors, Roulet added.

He said that holding out within one organization to reach the C-suite is especially difficult for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Working your way up is more difficult for disadvantaged groups

“Archetypes tend to be reproduced in leadership,” Roulet said, adding that Hill is not all that different from Nike’s previous CEO.

In terms of homegrown leadership, people with the same profile as those who previously had the job tend to be elevated, he said. This makes it more difficult for women, people of color, disabled groups, and many others to have the same trajectory.

“Then, you miss an opportunity — you don’t have the same capacity to innovate because it’s someone who potentially has the same views on the same issues,” Roulet said.