Career Direction
How do I decide what role to pursue next in my career?
Start with the value you want to keep creating—not simply the title that looks like the next logical step.
Experienced CPG leaders rarely have only one credible option. You may be able to lead a larger function, move into a new category, take a general-management path, build a consulting practice, or stay where you are and reshape the role. The challenge is not proving that you can do several things. It is deciding which direction deserves your energy now.
Begin with the work, not the title
Titles are useful shorthand, but they are poor starting points for a meaningful career decision. The same title can represent very different problems, authority, resources, and expectations from one company to another.
Ask which business problems you want to keep solving. What decisions do you want to own? Which parts of leadership give you energy? What work do you want to do more often—and what are you no longer willing to build a role around?
Separate a credible option from the right option
A recruiter call can make an opportunity feel important simply because someone else expressed interest. That is not the same as alignment. Create criteria before the market creates urgency for you.
Your criteria might include the mandate, manager, culture, business health, decision authority, location, compensation, travel, and the capabilities you want to build next. A clear set of priorities helps you evaluate opportunities without allowing each new possibility to rewrite the plan.
Use conversations to test the direction
You do not have to make the decision in isolation. Talk with people close to the roles, companies, and problems you are considering. Ask what the work actually requires, where leaders create value, and what makes someone credible in that environment.
The goal is not to collect approval. It is to gather evidence. A strong direction becomes clearer when your experience creates curiosity, the work still interests you after you understand it, and the tradeoffs remain acceptable.
Why this matters in a CPG career
In CPG, the title rarely tells the whole story. Two similar roles can differ sharply in customer exposure, category maturity, ownership structure, decision rights, and the mandate behind the job. The better choice is usually the role where the business need and your contribution genuinely meet.
When I coach experienced CPG leaders through this decision, I ask them to stop treating every attractive title as a direction. A senior role can look like progress on paper while offering little authority, an unsustainable pace, or a business problem they do not want to own. The right question is not, ‘Could I do this?’ It is, ‘Is this the work and environment where I want my judgment to matter next?’
A better question than ‘Is this a bigger job?’
A Director role at a smaller company may offer ownership of a customer strategy, a real voice in portfolio choices, and room to build a team. A larger VP title may be narrower, more political, or heavily constrained. Neither is automatically better. The useful comparison is the mandate, authority, and future story each one gives you.
Use a role-fit filter before the market creates urgency
Score each real opportunity from 1 to 5 before you decide how much energy it deserves.
- Mandate: Is the business problem important, specific, and worth solving?
- Authority: Will you have the decision rights, resources, and sponsorship to do the work?
- Future story: Will this role strengthen the direction you want to be known for?
Choosing the work that fits
One CPG commercial leader had several credible directions but needed to decide which challenges they wanted to solve next. We clarified how their experience could help a business and what a consulting offer would include. They developed a structured independent consulting practice, clearer offers and a pipeline system, while remaining open to the right operating role.
You don’t have to choose your future based only on what you’ve done before. Start with the challenges you want to solve and how your experience will help.
Questions worth answering
- What business problems do I want to be known for solving next?
- Which parts of my experience are most relevant to the future I want, not merely the past I have?
- What evidence would help me test this direction before I commit to it?
Write a one-sentence working direction that names the business problem, the environment, and the contribution you want to make. Use your next three conversations to test it.