Latest / Executive Careers with Fexingo: VP, C-Suite, and Senior Leadership Career Strategy / How Senior Leaders Use Sabbaticals to Reset Their Careers
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this assumption that C-suite careers have to be a straight line. No gaps, no pauses, no 'I'm going to step off the treadmill for three months.' But the data tells a different story, especially when we look at senior leaders who treat time away as a deliberate career move. Luna: You're talking about sabbaticals. And I think for a lot of executives, the word itself feels almost taboo. Like admitting you need a break is a sign of weakness. Lucas: Right. And that's the stigma we need to dismantle. Because I've been looking at the career arc of a chief marketing officer at a Fortune 500 consumer goods company. Let's call her Sarah. She was at the company for eight years, led a major brand repositioning, hit her targets. But she felt plateaued. So she negotiated a three-month sabbatical. Not a resignation, not a leave of absence with no pay. A structured, paid sabbatical that was written into her retention agreement. Luna: Paid sabbatical at that level is rare. How did she get that? Lucas: She tied it to a specific deliverable. She proposed that during the sabbatical, she would work with a startup accelerator in Nairobi — coaching founders on go to market strategy. The company had a diversity and innovation initiative they wanted to bolster. So her sabbatical became a kind of corporate ambassadorship. She wasn't 'taking a break.' She was extending her leadership into a new context. Luna: That's smart framing. It makes the sabbatical a business case rather than a personal request. And I imagine it also kept her network alive in a way that a pure vacation wouldn't. Lucas: Exactly. She stayed visible. She posted about the accelerator on LinkedIn, did a couple of speaking gigs while she was there. Her calendar wasn't empty — it was just different. And when she came back, the company offered her a new role. Actually, not at the same company. A competing firm recruited her directly into a chief operating officer position, based partly on the global exposure she'd just demonstrated. Luna: So the sabbatical essentially functioned as a career accelerator. That's the counterintuitive part. Lucas: Yes. And that's the angle I want to drill into. Because the fear is always that if you step away, you'll be forgotten. But if you design the sabbatical as a visible, value-generating project, you actually become more memorable. The key is intentionality. Luna: Let's talk about the negotiation piece. Because a lot of leaders listening might think, 'I can't just ask for three months off.' Lucas: And you probably shouldn't lead with that. Sarah didn't either. She built the case over a year. She identified a gap in the company's innovation pipeline, proposed her involvement in the accelerator as a pilot, and then gradually shaped it into a sabbatical. The actual negotiation was about scope and compensation, not whether she could go. Luna: So it's about creating the conditions long before you make the ask. Lucas: Exactly. And then there's the question of what you do during the sabbatical. Sarah's model — coaching in an emerging market — is one example. But I've also seen executives use sabbaticals to write a book, serve on a board, or even take an intensive course. The common thread is that it's not just 'time off.' It's 'time on' something that builds a new dimension of your profile. Luna: What about the risk? Because not everyone's sabbatical ends with a better job. Some people come back and their role has been restructured, or the company culture has shifted. Lucas: That's real. And I'd say the risk is highest when the sabbatical is a reaction — burnout, frustration, wanting to escape. That's when you don't plan the re-entry. Sarah had a re-entry plan before she left. She scheduled check-ins with her boss every three weeks. She maintained key client relationships. She made sure her team had a clear interim leader. So the company didn't feel abandoned. Luna: It sounds like the sabbatical is actually a test of leadership. Can you build a team that runs without you? Can you maintain influence while you're not in the office? If you can, that signals you're ready for a bigger role. Lucas: That's exactly right. And I think that's the lens more executives should use. Not 'Will this hurt my career?' but 'How do I design this so it demonstrates my value in a new way?' The companies that grant sabbaticals often see it as an investment, not a cost. Luna: Speaking of investment — Lucas, this show is ad-free, and that's because listeners support it directly. If you've gotten something out of our episodes, especially the ones about career strategy, you can help keep it going at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to keep the conversation independent. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small gesture that makes a big difference for us. And it means we never have to skew the content for sponsors. So thank you if you've already contributed. Luna: Alright, back to sabbaticals. One thing I want to dig into is the stigma. Even if you do everything right, there's a bias against career breaks at the senior level. How do you neutralize that in interviews? Lucas: You frame it proactively. Sarah, when she was interviewing for the COO role, didn't wait for them to ask about the three-month gap. She put it in her cover letter and in the opening of her interview: 'I spent three months working with startups in Nairobi, which gave me a fresh perspective on scaling operations in resource-constrained environments.' That turns a potential negative into a strength. Luna: And she had concrete outcomes to point to. Companies don't care that you 'took time to recharge.' They care what you produced. Lucas: Right. So if you're considering a sabbatical, the most important thing you can do is define your deliverable upfront. What will you have at the end? A report, a network, a skill, a credential? Sarah had case studies from the accelerator, new relationships with founders, and a broader understanding of a market the company was entering. Luna: I want to ask about the timing. May 2026 — the job market is competitive, companies are cautious with hiring. Is this a good moment to take a sabbatical, or should you wait? Lucas: It depends on your leverage. If you're in a role with high demand and you've delivered consistently, you have more room. But I'd say the current environment actually favors the kind of sabbatical Sarah took — one that builds global or digital capabilities. Companies are hungry for leaders who understand new markets and remote team dynamics. A sabbatical that demonstrates that could give you an edge. Luna: And if your company says no? Lucas: Then you have a signal. Either they don't value you enough to invest in your growth, or they don't believe in the kind of development you're proposing. That's useful information. Some people use a 'no' as the catalyst to start looking for an employer who does support sabbaticals. There are companies now — some tech firms, professional services firms — that have formal sabbatical policies. But even without a policy, you can negotiate one. Luna: So it's a test of the relationship. Lucas: Exactly. And a sabbatical is not for everyone. But for senior leaders who feel stuck, it's a tool that is vastly underused. I'd love to see more executives treat it as a strategic option, not a last resort. Luna: I'm struck by how much of this comes back to intentionality. The sabbatical itself, the negotiation, the re-entry. It's not a vacation. It's a project. Lucas: It is. And I think that's the bottom line. If you treat it as a project with a clear ROI, you'll get the support you need and the career lift you're hoping for.