Three Traps Facing New Corporate Center Executives : What Companies Should Consider When Hiring for Corporate Roles

What kind of managerial experiences best prepare executives for a corporate center role? For today's large, multidivisional corporations, this question is fundamental. Most firms assume that experience with managing a profit-oriented unit in one or more of the firm's core businesses is vital for success in a corporate center role. This assumption leads many large firms to seek executive candidates with proven track records in at least one of the firm's business divisions. Although such experience clearly has many benefits, it also imposes some risks that companies should consider. In our years of studying and consulting corporate executives, we have identified several signs of mistakes commonly made by executives with prior business experience when they take on corporate center roles. We look at three common traps and introduce three ways for hiring companies to mitigating those risks.

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