A derailed executive is an previously-named high-potential employee who has reached the middle management level, only to find that there is little chance of future advancement (as previously thought) due to a misfit between job requirements and personal skills. Thus, the executive either plateaus or leaves the organization altogether. That is the original [...]

The skill set that is required for success at an individual contributor and entry-level job gets old quickly. As you achieve results by doing things right, you get put into a position that now requires you to do the right things. As this happens, your technical expertise matter less and less.

To provide graduate students with insights from practitioners, Ben Baran from Foster Excellence has launched an “Early-Career Practitioner Conversations” series, which provides advice from successful practitioners who earned a graduate degree in industrial/organizational psychology, human resource management, or a related field within the past five years.