New favorite business trivia: What do Nike, GM — and now Target — all have in common?
Each of these companies now has a CEO who began years ago as an intern, and then worked their way up to the top job over the decades:
At GM, Mary Barra started as an 18-year-old intern in the early 1980s. Her LinkedIn profile lists 15 different positions culminating as chair and CEO starting in 2016.
At Nike, CEO Elliott Hill started as an intern in 1988 and had 19 different roles at the company before retiring in 2020 as president — but then came back last October to take over as CEO.
And now, Target has a new CEO — or at least, will have one as of next year: Michael Fiddelke, who started at the company as a finance intern while he was getting his MBA back in 2003, and has had 10 promotions before the big one he’s now getting.
Hat tip to Jessica Karl at Bloomberg, who pointed out the connection among these ladder-climbers. Additional similar inspiring stories worth mentioning:
Ursula Burns, who had a 46-year career at Xerox, starting as a summer intern and culminating with a seven-year tenure as CEO. Burns was the first black woman to lead any Fortune 500 company; she left the company in 2016.
And, Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, who wasn’t an intern as far as I can tell so he gets an asterisk, but he did work as an hourly associate at a Walmart during high school and then came back to begin a career several years later, after getting his MBA.
I’m sure there are others, but the news recently at Target is happening at a very apt time — just as we get into the first days of September, and as the summer interns of 2025 have headed back to school.
One-and-done
Do many interns expect they’ll stay with the company they spend a summer or two with -- or a few days a week during the school year -- for an entire career? Or that they’ll eventually rise to the top job?
Do they even know about the “run the copy machine” to “run the entire company” career journeys of people like Barra, Hill, Fiddelke, Burns, and McMillon*?
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, people hold an average of 12.7 jobs from ages 18 to 56. These are baby boomer statistics — which makes sense in a way, since younger generations likely haven’t retired yet, so we don’t know their full experience.
But personally, it’s possible I’ve missed someone, but when I think about the people I went to college and later law school with, I can’t think of a single one who had a one-and-done corporate career like this.
Of course, I don’t know too many Fortune 500 CEOs either, at least nobody that I knew before they were either in or close to that position.
Also, personally, my longest stint at a pure W-2 job is just four years — although let's add that I've been writing this newsletter for (oh my God!) nearly six years.
But if I had interns, and I was working on my “thanks for all you’ve done for us this” speech, I’d find a way to work these examples into it.
Let’s talk Target
A few quick points about Fiddelke’s situation.
It’s fair to wonder whether this is a bit of a Pyrrhic promotion, given that the company is in a heck of a slump — both in terms of sales and stock. After the second quarter, Target reported that it expects an annual sales decline in the coming year.
Of course, there’s something to be said for taking the helm of a troubled ship; if Fiddelke is successful, he’ll be seen as a savior.
Fiddelke told reporters he’s “stepping in with urgency to rebuild momentum and return to profitable growth.” He added, “We’ve built a solid foundation, and we’re proud of the many ways that Target is unique in American retail. We also have real work in front of us.”
I hope it works out for him. My default position is always to root for an iconic American company like Target to do well.
Besides, if a year or now from now we’re talking about what a great job Fiddelke did turning around Target, that will bode well for the interns of the future.
And that might lead to some even more inspiring stories.
7 other things worth knowing
Layoffs surged nearly 40 percent last month, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, and U.S. private sector hiring rose less than expected, by just 54,000 according to data from payroll processing firm ADP. That’s below the consensus forecast of 75,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones and marks a significant slowdown from the revised gain of 106,000 seen in the prior month. Separately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday will deliver its first jobs report since President Trump fired its leader in response to disappointing employment data for July. (The Hill, CNBC, The Hill again)
Senior Justice Department officials are weighing proposals to limit transgender people’s right to possess firearms. The idea of restricting gun rights has long been a red line for conservatives ... but Justice Department leadership is seriously considering whether it can use its rulemaking authority to follow on to Trump’s determination to bar military service by transgender people and declare that people who are transgender are mentally ill. (CNN)
$40,000 Vacations Inspire Finance Pros to Become Travel Agents: A growing number of professionals have left the security of high-flying jobs in finance, law and other white-collar industries to join the rapidly swelling ranks of travel advisers. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Navy restored the retired military rank of Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who was President Trump's first-term White House physician, reversing a Biden-era decision to demote him from rear admiral to captain. Jackson had been demoted in retirement in 2022 after the release of a Pentagon inspector general’s report that found he bullied his staff and made inappropriate sexual comments about a female subordinate during his time within the White House Medical Unit. (The Washington Post)
A 42-year-old Texas man is facing a murder charge in the shooting of an 11-year-old boy after the victim and his friends banged on the suspect's door late Saturday night in what police described as a "ding-dong-ditch" prank that has been trending on TikTok and other social media platforms, authorities said. The child, who police initially said was 10 years old, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday afternoon. (ABC News)
Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer who took over the world with a vision of elegant ease and then rewrote the rules of the Hollywood red carpet, has passed away at the age of 91 at his home in Milan. (W Magazine)
Finally: After 38 years, Michael Stipe of R.E.M. revealed the actual corrected lyrics to the notoriously difficult to sing, "It's the End of the World as We Know It." (People)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.
Be nice to your paper boy or other youthful provider. He may one day be your physician, manager, policeman, judge, etc.
My mother was once examined by a specialist at a large, multispecialist medical facility. After hearing his name and voice, she asked him if he might have been her paperboy 20 years earlier. Yes, he had been.
My husband wasn't an intern at his company, but it was his first job out of college. He has had several different positions, and weathered near extinction and a buyout. In August he celebrated 36 years at the firm. You don't see that anymore.