On October 8, The Logic reported that Lululemon had created two jobs it had never had. Maggie Gauger, president and CEO of Athleta, would join as president and chief product officer. Joseph Godsey, chief growth officer at Walmart Canada, would join as chief operating officer. Both start on October 26.

Lululemon was not alone. In the past month we found 120 LinkedIn posts, from 111 different accounts, about a newly created role, team or seat. About 47 were recruiting for one, 26 of them posted by the employer and 21 by outside recruiters. Most of the rest reported appointments, often trade publications covering other companies’ hires. They ran across finance, operations, people, technology, communications and legal.

Roles built to cross lines

Several of the new roles we read joined work that used to sit in separate functions. Karen Beard announced on September 25 that she had been appointed Credit Union SA‘s Chief People and Productivity Officer, a newly created role that she wrote reflects a commitment to an organization that combines “strong culture, capable people, operational excellence and sustainable growth.” Begoña Michelena became COO for Distribution at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management while keeping the client service team she leads; her announcement drew 558 reactions and 282 comments.

Inside legal, the same thing is happening. Gillian Akai, SVP, general counsel, communications and corporate secretary at Maple Leaf Foods, is hiring an associate general counsel “for a newly created role that sits at the intersection of commercial law, legal innovation and enterprise risk.” The person will be a hands-on commercial lawyer, help modernize how the team works with playbooks and AI tools, and lead the company’s enterprise risk management program. Her pitch, on October 17: “What makes this one interesting? You get to build.” On October 14, a Boeing recruiter posted that Boeing’s Law and Global Compliance organization is looking for a senior manager “to lead a newly created team” extending Boeing’s compliance program across its subsidiaries.

Hiring leaders are asking for unusual combinations in existing roles too. Katherine Knight, EVP and chief commercial officer at Mitsubishi Motors North America, whose remit runs from aftersales and customer experience to legal, is recruiting for a director role she called unique. She wants an automotive engineering background, a grasp of strategy and execution, and someone “highly collaborative but also a tiny bit of a disruptor.”

Before you backfill

Janice Robinson Burns, who has worked for years in HR, learning and transformation, wrote on October 21 about what usually happens instead. A position opens, the team needs help, and someone pulls out the old job description. “And that job description has survived three reorganizations and a global pandemic. Apparently, it’s the most resilient member of the team.” Her question: “But before we replace the person, have we looked at what’s happened to the work?”

Rahul Mehendale, an AI transformation executive in healthcare, pointed to UChicago Medicine, where, he wrote, automation now clears about 95% of certain revenue-cycle cases up to 28 days before service. Instead of simply eliminating staff, the health system moved experienced people from insurance verification and prior authorization into harder cases that need judgment. His rule: “when someone leaves, do not automatically reopen yesterday’s job description.” He calls the choice Refill, Redesign or Hold.

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Careers that changed direction

Separately, leaders this month described careers whose earlier stops did not look like preparation at the time.

Dave Strousberg started his own law firm at 41, after working in the NBA, as a jury consultant, as a lawyer, as a college teacher, and in nonprofits and public relations. “For a long time, I felt like I was just bouncing around,” he wrote. Looking back: “None of it was wasted.”

Madeleine Kahn, director of CSR and ESG at Appfire, wrote that she used to worry every year spent outside sustainability made her less qualified for it. “Spending time outside the sustainability bubble had made me more qualified by giving me a completely different set of experiences to bring back with me.” Her post drew 436 reactions.

Claire Hart, whose appointment to the Mobioos board was announced on October 21, has worked in leadership roles at Google, YouTube, Blizzard Entertainment and Genies, and served at Groq as chief operating officer, general manager of licensing, chief legal officer and a board member.

Boards still read titles

Companies are writing new jobs. Boards, by two accounts this month, are narrowing the old ones.

At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, Merline Saintil, cofounder of Black Women on Boards, said board placements for women are down 33% over the last year. As Fortune reported it, she said companies are looking for specific titles, most of them titles in which women have been underrepresented. “Placements are happening, but they’re happening specifically for CEOs.” Heather Marie Spilsbury, CEO of 50/50 Women on Boards, gave aspiring directors practical advice after her organization’s latest annual report: pursue nonprofit and private company boards that mirror public-company governance, because “Public company boards are looking for experienced directors.” She also asked nominating chairs to “look beyond the board’s immediate circles when identifying talent.”

That is the gap. Companies are creating roles for people whose experience crosses functions. If Saintil is right, the board seat above those roles still goes to the person with the most familiar title.

Three questions for your next opening:

1. The rewrite When a role opens on your team, do you rewrite it before you post it?
2. The background Which of your leaders has a background no job description would have asked for?
3. The board If you sit on a board, what would it take for you to back a candidate who has never held the CEO title?

Know a leader whose career changed direction more than once? Nominations for Counsel Collective’s 2027 classes, including The Pivot Series and Second Act Leaders, close December 31, 2026. Nominating is free, and a place cannot be bought. Put a name forward.

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