LinkedIn CEO urges workers to ditch ‘rigid and outdated’ five-year career plans

Ryan Roslansky, CEO of the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform, has urged both employees and employers to move away from rigid five-year career plans, describing them as “outdated” in an era defined by artificial intelligence and constant business disruption. 

Instead, he is encouraging professionals to focus on shorter-term goals centred on learning, adaptability and experience.  "You’ll hear people frequently say, ‘Hey, you have to have a five-year plan, like, chart out what the next five years of your life are going to look like, and then follow that path and follow that plan...And in reality, when you know technology and the labor market and everything is moving beneath you, I think having a five-year plan is a little bit foolish," he said. 

Roslansky shared his assessment of conventional career advice in a recent podcast with Erin McGolf. The idea that ambitious employees should be able to map out what the next five years of their working lives will look like, he said, no longer reflects reality. 

For HR leaders, his remarks expose a growing tension in the labour market. Organisations still depend on structured career frameworks, succession plans and multi-year workforce strategies. Yet employees are increasingly navigating non-linear, skills-based careers that are difficult to define more than a year or two in advance. 

Roslansky is not advocating a lack of direction. Rather, he is pushing for a shift in emphasis – from distant milestones to near-term learning sprints that build resilience in an unpredictable market. In his view, professionals who focus on acquiring new skills and experiences, and remain open to unexpected opportunities, are more likely to find their careers opening up in ways that no five-year plan could have anticipated. The data supports his concern. 

According to the World Economic Forum, around 39% of core skills are expected to be transformed or become obsolete by 2030. That pace of change makes static role definitions and long-term career ladders increasingly fragile. For employers, the implications are significant. 

One consequence is a shift away from the traditional “career ladder” towards a more flexible lattice model. In this approach, sideways moves, project-based assignments and periodic reskilling are not seen as detours but as essential career development. 

Roslansky has highlighted the value of non-linear paths, arguing that breadth of experience can be just as powerful as upward progression. 

For HR functions, that points to a need for stronger internal mobility, career frameworks built around capabilities rather than titles, and promotion criteria that reward adaptability and range. 

It also increases pressure to invest in always-on learning ecosystems, giving employees visibility into emerging skills so they can align short-term goals with real organisational needs. AI sits at the centre of this shift – both as a catalyst and as a planning risk. 

As Roslansky has noted, technology is changing jobs fast enough to make detailed long-range planning questionable.

For employers, this is not just a career-advice issue but a governance challenge. Workforce plans based on today’s job architecture may quickly become outdated as AI tools are deployed and tasks are reconfigured. 

Many HR leaders may find themselves shortening planning horizons, building multiple scenarios for AI adoption, and revisiting development plans more frequently. 

In that context, Roslansky’s message serves as a warning: clinging to traditional five-year plans, whether for individuals or organisations, may offer a sense of certainty that no longer exists.