For decades, career progression was measured by titles. In a more hierarchical and stable organizational matrix, strongly influenced by the industrial logic of the 20th century, moving up the structure, taking on more responsibility and earning a new functional designation were clear signs of professional growth. Careers developed linearly, often within the same organization, and growth was understood as vertical progression. In this context, organizations and professionals aligned around a simple logic: advancing in one’s career meant moving up the hierarchy. The title thus functioned as a true proxy for value, status and recognition. However, this metric is now beginning to lose relevance, the model that supported it is being challenged by profound transformations in the labor market, from digitalization to increasing organizational agility and the question is no longer merely operational, but strategic: do titles continue to be the best way to measure and manage a career?

In a context marked by accelerated technological transformation, more agile organizational models and shorter cycles of change, titles have become insufficient as an indicator of value. According to the World Economic Forum (2023), the labor market is undergoing a significant reconfiguration of roles and critical skills. Roles are evolving today more rapidly than the structures that support them, creating a growing disconnect between title and actual impact. This gap raises relevant challenges, both for organizations, as they need to review their talent management models and career progression systems, and for professionals, raising a deeper question: how do we define identity and positioning in a context where titles cease to be a stable reference point?

Careers built around positions are based on an implicit assumption: structural stability. However, that stability has been declining, organizations are becoming flatter, more project-oriented and more dynamic, while roles are being redesigned or eliminated more frequently, and value is progressively shifting from positions to skills. As Peter Cappelli (2012) notes, organizations are increasingly focused on the concrete needs of the business, reducing their reliance on linear and predictable career paths. Within this framework, the position ceases to be a secure asset and skills, by contrast, remain transferable and adaptable to different contexts.

We are, therefore, facing a structural shift: from a role-centered logic to a capability-oriented logic. More than the “what”, the functional title, the “how” and “with what impact” are becoming increasingly relevant. This trend has been widely evidenced by platforms such as LinkedIn, which demonstrate a growing emphasis on transferable skills and a reduced centrality of formal titles. A professional’s competitive advantage increasingly rests on their ability to execute, generate value and adapt to changing contexts.

This transformation requires a paradigm shift in the way careers are conceived. It is no longer a linear and predictable path and instead becomes a dynamic asset that requires continuous management. A career ceases to be a ladder and becomes more like a portfolio: of relevant experiences, critical skills and strategic decisions. As Herminia Ibarra (2015) argues, contemporary professional trajectories are built through exploration, repositioning and continuous learning, rather than solely through vertical progression. Growth thus ceases to be synonymous with promotion and comes to be understood as the development of value and adaptability. The main implication of this shift is clear: career management unequivocally becomes an individual responsibility. Organizations continue to create context, opportunities and development conditions, but they no longer exclusively define the path.

In the book Be the CEO of Your Career, we defend precisely this idea: a career is not something that happens to us, it is something we manage. It is up to each professional to identify the critical skills for their context, anticipate market trends and make conscious positioning decisions. In this new framework, the relevant question is no longer “what is the next position?” but rather another, more demanding one: if your title disappeared today, what value would you continue to bring? The answer to this question is increasingly the true indicator of career sustainability.

The decline of titles as the primary metric does not represent a loss, but an evolution. An evolution toward more demanding, but also more transparent, models, less dependent on formal validation and more focused on real impact. Ultimately, this shift redefines the very concept of a career: it ceases to be something that is assigned and becomes something that is managed. The question is no longer what title comes next, but how each professional chooses to manage their most relevant asset, because regardless of the organizational context, there is one role that remains constant: defining strategy, making decisions and ensuring the evolution of one’s own professional path. Or, simply put, consciously taking responsibility for managing one’s career with a CEO mindset, even if the title never comes to reflect it. Because, in the end, what defines a career is not what is written on the business card, but the value that remains when the title disappears.

Article written for Human Resources Portugal.