In the corporate world, we are conditioned to look up. We obsess over the next rung, the bigger title, and the direct path to the corner office. But if you ask Seth Kaufman, chief commercial officer at Philip Morris International (PMI) U.S., the secret to reaching the C-suite is not a ladder at all. It is a lattice.
Kaufman’s career arc, spanning nearly two decades at PepsiCo, a high-stakes pivot into the luxury world of LVMH, and now a leadership role at a tobacco giant undergoing an ambitious transformation, is a case study in the power of the uncomfortable lateral move.
