Is it time for corporate Australia to challenge the conventional pathway to CEO roles?
Traditionally, leading finance and operational roles have been seen as the main pipeline to the top. But this narrow orthodoxy risks overlooking people with different capabilities from areas such as human resources, legal and corporate affairs – areas where women tend to congregate.
The latest Chief Executive Women Senior Executive Census 2025 calls this out as The Pipeline Problem. Some sobering findings:
- Women remain underrepresented in key CEO feeder roles (COO, CFO, Group Executive, MD).
- While representation has lifted slightly, men still hold 80% of these roles.
- 41% of ASX300 companies have no women positioned for CEO succession.
To address this gap, the accepted solution is building profit-and-loss experience for women leaders. But there’s a bigger opportunity here, as the CEW report says, to question the narrow definition of ‘CEO readiness’ and ‘expand the blueprint for pathways to leadership’.
It’s an opportunity for boards in Australia too, with increasing focus on the need for directors from diverse demographic backgrounds and people with skills beyond traditional disciplines of finance, governance and operations.
Dr Juliet Bourke’s research on diversity of thinking approaches has shown that boards need people with a ‘people’ background who will expand the ways people solve problems beyond outcomes, options, evidence, risk and process perspectives.
The CEW report is clear: we need targets, intentional action, and the courage to resist retreat on diversity. As the report urges:
“Australia's corporate leadership has a rare chance to set a positive tone in a world increasingly divided on these issues. While others retreat, we can stand against pushback.”
If your organisation is looking for support in setting gender equality targets or education about the value of diverse and inclusive teams, we’d love to talk. Please send your enquiry to us at info@diversitypartners.com.au.
