A career spanning more than 40 years with the same company is becoming increasingly unusual.

This career path caught my attention. Starting as a cashier in 1985, Ann-Marie Campbell progressed through roles including sales associate, store manager, district manager and regional vice president before becoming Senior Executive Vice President at The Home Depot.

There is something particularly familiar about this from a Japanese perspective.
Long careers within one company have historically been a major part of Japanese employment culture. Employees often developed through different roles and responsibilities over many years, building deep organisational knowledge along the way.

That model has changed, but the underlying idea remains interesting: a long career with one organisation can provide opportunities to build expertise, understand the business deeply and grow through experience.

The question for organisations today is how to create those development opportunities as career paths become more diverse.