Career dissonance: why Italian managers are seeking a new sense of purpose in their roles
Many leaders do not simply want to change companies; they are looking for a job that better reflects their values and leadership styles
Professional success continues to be important in the lives of Italian managers, yet many of them wish to change direction in their careers – and not always for financial reasons. Guiding the choices of today’s leaders is a new phenomenon that we might define as career dissonance, that is, the condition in which a professional continues to achieve results, meet targets or be recognised for their performance, yet no longer identifies with the way in which their role is carried out. It is the paradox of a successful career which, gradually, ceases to be perceived as one’s own and manifests itself in a growing disconnect between performance, values and professional identity. It is a sort of short circuit that risks having significant consequences.
The data compiled by the Hunters Group Observatory demonstrates this: around 64 per cent of managers and executives state that the main motivation for changing jobs is not linked to remuneration or job title, but to the search for an organisational environment more in line with their leadership style and stage of life; furthermore, for over 70 per cent of those surveyed, the most important factor is not annual gross salary, but corporate culture, decision-making autonomy, the quality of leadership and the sustainability of the business model.
If we were to summarise this situation in a single sentence, we could say that managers today do not necessarily want to change companies, but want to do their jobs differently. We are facing a cultural shift that goes beyond the familiar concepts of the Great Resignation or quiet quitting, which are linked to a certain level of disengagement and disaffection, and has nothing to do with them. Career dissonance affects the highest-performing and most integrated professionals, who do not flee from work but seek to be able to identify with what they do once again.
Managers’ new demands
artificial intelligence and the speed of business processes are accelerating a transition that is, first and foremost, human: leaders are no longer simply seeking to advance their careers and climb the corporate ladder; they are looking for environments in which their intellectual, decision-making and interpersonal contributions continue to hold distinctive value. Companies that fail to offer this consistency risk losing their chain of command in the short term. And this is a huge problem which, if neglected, could even jeopardise the survival of the business or, at the very least, put it in difficulty.
This scenario also profoundly transforms the nature of headhunting: recruitment and selection can no longer be limited to assessing skills and remuneration, but must foster a lasting alignment between organisations’ objectives and individuals’ development. For Italian companies, managing career dissonance represents one of the main challenges of talent attraction and talent retention in the coming years. Economic incentives naturally remain fundamental, but they will no longer be (and indeed are already not) sufficient: it is becoming essential to rethink the quality of leadership, the transparency of decision-making processes, the scope for autonomy and the opportunity to continue learning even after reaching positions of responsibility.
