Takeaways Discovered From Interviewing 80 Executives in 2025

Sadly, there is no secret components for achievement — however after talking with dozens of leaders this yr, I’ve a couple of concepts about what makes individuals on the high stand out.

In 2025, I interviewed round 80 executives, together with greater than 30 leaders at Fortune 500 firms, and roughly 20 CEOs or founders. They ranged from the heads of consumer-coveted manufacturers like Whoop and Olipop, to the CEO behind CorePower Yoga, and senior leaders at main tech firms like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

After talking with leaders throughout numerous industries and firm sizes, I am unable to say I found the blueprint for achievement. Nonetheless, I did discover related themes and patterns that stored popping up in our conversations.

These are the three takeaways I noticed:

Many took non-traditional paths

A straight path to the C-suite was the exception, not the rule, among the many executives I spoke with.

Even those that began with Ivy League credentials skilled some twists or setbacks alongside the best way. Reserving Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel, for instance, advised Enterprise Insider that after dropping his job in funding banking, he remained unemployed for 2 years and wrote a novel.

Different executives began on fully completely different paths. The CEO of Brooks Working, a billion-dollar firm, started his profession as a highschool trainer. AWS government Colleen Aubrey mentioned she labored as a receptionist for the Australian authorities at the beginning of her profession. The CEO of Autodesk shared that he dropped out of highschool at one level and was on probation as an adolescent.

Others, like Google Cloud’s Yasmeen Ahmad, additionally took oblique paths. Ahmad began her profession in genomics and life sciences after incomes a PhD. She mentioned her largest problem was accepting the unknown as she transitioned from academia into the workforce. Whereas uncomfortable on the time, she mentioned transferring by means of roles in gross sales and finance earlier than becoming a member of Google in the end gave her a broader perspective.

They keep disciplined

Most executives I spoke with displayed a excessive degree of self-discipline and curiosity that went past working additional time.

For Visa Group President Oliver Jenkyn, it means setting apart 4 uninterrupted hours every week to be taught one thing new. For Blackstone CTO John Stecher, it is utilizing his 35-minute subway rides to and from work to learn up on tech information in different industries.

That self-discipline extends outdoors of their skilled lives, shaping every little thing from their diets to their exercise routines and existence.

Ben Goodwin, the CEO of Olipop, for instance, begins his mornings with a bathe that toggles between scorching water and the coldest setting to assist construct tolerance for discomfort. He additionally frequently cycles between chilly plunges and sauna classes, spending 5 minutes or extra at a time in roughly 40-degree water.

For CorePower Yoga CEO, Niki Leondakis, that self-discipline reveals up in the best way she units boundaries for work. As an introvert, she mentioned recharging is essential for her. She mentioned her assistant blocks off half-hour on her calendar earlier than any high-stakes engagement so she will floor herself and do breathwork.

Others, like VC founder Harry Stebbings, have necessary each day and weekly milestones, like hitting 30,000 steps daily and strolling a marathon together with his mom each weekend. He additionally holds off on consuming his first meal, which is solely sushi, till round 8:30 p.m. on a regular basis.

They do not shrink back from threat

Many executives described a sample of daring decision-making of their careers — and a few, like AT&T exec Jennifer Van Buskirk, look to establish candidates with the identical impulse.

That boldness can manifest in numerous methods — from founding an organization in school, like Whoop CEO Will Ahmed, to publicly taking a stand on AI-assisted dishonest in interviews, because the founding father of Cluely did.

Others, like Google’s head of Android, Sameer Samat, displayed boldness by making the primary transfer. In 1999, he despatched a chilly electronic mail to Sergey Brin in the midst of the evening, asking for recommendation a couple of disagreement together with his startup cofounders. The trade led to a go to to Google’s workplace, which ended with a job supply, although Samat turned it down on the time.

For AWS government Sarah Cooper, taking dangers means writing detailed proposals about new concepts she needs to implement. The technique has led her to create her personal roles. Nonetheless, it is also backfired. Cooper mentioned that at one job, a poorly obtained proposal resulted in her being pushed out of the corporate.

Whereas dangers do not all the time repay, the resounding message I gathered from leaders is that failing generally is inevitable, and so they’d slightly act than stand nonetheless.