The Breadth Premium: Measuring the Firm-level Impact of CEO Career Breadth

Paper: arXiv 2511.05515

Authors: T. Alexander Puutio

Abstract

Prevailing career and education systems continue to reward early specialization and deep expertise within narrow domains. While such depth promotes efficiency, it may also limit adaptability in complex and rapidly changing environments. Building on research showing that variability in training inputs enhances learning outcomes across cognitive and behavioral domains, this study explores whether the same principle applies to executive performance. Using an original dataset of 650 CEOs leading firms that together represent roughly 85% of US market capitalization, we construct a composite Breadth Index capturing cross-domain educational and professional breadth. Preliminary analyses reveal that firms led by higher-breadth CEOs outperform their industry peers by an average of 9.8 percentage points over a three-year window. Regression results indicate that each one-point increase on the five-point Range Index corresponds to a 1.8-point gain in abnormal returns (p < 0.03), with effects remaining robust across industries, firm sizes, and CEO age groups. These early findings suggest that leadership breadth, defined as experience spanning multiple functions, disciplines, and sectors, is positively associated with firm-level performance. While the dataset remains under validation, the pattern observed supports the emerging view that as specialization deepens, the marginal value of lateral insight rises. Breadth, in this light, functions as a form of adaptive capital; it enhances leaders’ capacity for integrative reasoning, organizational translation, and strategic flexibility in uncertain environments.

Complexity vs Empirical Score

• Math Complexity: 2.0/10
• Empirical Rigor: 4.5/10
• Quadrant: Philosophers — conceptual discussion, limited math and data

Why this score: The paper presents an intriguing study linking CEO career breadth to firm equity performance using cross-sectional regressions. However, it relies on basic econometric methods without complex mathematical modeling, and explicitly notes that its dataset remains under validation, limiting its empirical rigor and reproducibility at this preprint stage.

Research Flowchart

  flowchart TD
    A[Research Goal: Evaluate impact of CEO career breadth on firm performance] --> B[Data Input: Dataset of 650 CEOs representing ~85% of US market cap]
    B --> C[Methodology: Construct 5-point composite Breadth Index for education & experience]
    C --> D[Analysis: Multi-year regression & industry-matched performance comparison]
    D --> E[Finding 1: High-breadth CEOs outperform industry peers by 9.8% over 3 years]
    D --> F[Finding 2: +1 point on Breadth Index yields +1.8% in abnormal returns p < 0.03]
    E & F --> G[Outcome: Career breadth serves as adaptive capital enhancing firm performance]

Cited References (60)

1. Studying Philosophy Does Make People Better Thinkers (2025) — link
2. Good to great: The impact of interdisciplinarity on the researchers’ funding performance (2025) — link
3. The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness (2024) — link
4. Applying different levels of practice variability for motor learning: More is not better (2024) — link
5. The relation between lateral thinking and inquiry skills of higher education students: A path analysis (2024) — link
6. Cognitive flexibility and academic performance: Individual and cross-national patterns among adolescents in 57 countries (2024) — link
7. Academic career progression from early career researcher to professor: what can we learn from job ads (2023) — link
8. Making the difficult career transition: Writing the next chapter during the great resignation or in the future (2022) — link

0 of 60 cited works are in the corpus; resolved via arXiv source bundles, Semantic Scholar and OpenAlex. Corpus-wide: 2518 linked papers.