The Death of the Single-Category Expert: Why Range Beats Depth in Modern FMCG

LS International

For decades, FMCG rewarded specialization. If you’d spent 15 years climbing in the same category—beverages, beauty, personal care—you were seen as “low-risk, high-knowledge” talent. That depth was how leaders were groomed, how careers were built, and how hiring managers made safe bets.

But the market has shifted. In 2025, the very depth that once made you valuable can make you rigid.

The Restructuring Reality

McKinsey research shows that over 70% of consumer companies have restructured in the past two years, flattening hierarchies and combining functions. Consumer goods dominated restructuring filings in 2024, and the pattern is unmistakable: companies are cutting layers and demanding more range from fewer people.

Suddenly, leaders aren’t running single-category fiefdoms. They’re steering cross-functional, leaner teams where breadth wins over depth. The “10,000-hour expert” who mastered one domain is getting passed over for the leader who can connect three.

What Changed (And Why It Matters)

When you slim down teams and merge functions, you can’t afford leaders who only know their lane. Organizations need people who can:
  • Translate between commercial and supply chain
  • Bridge digital and traditional trade
  • Move from strategy to execution without needing a translator
  • Ask different questions and secure goals with fewer resources
 
Here’s the pattern I see from the front lines of executive search:
Category specialists know their niche inside and out, but struggle when innovation or disruption comes from outside it. They’ve built careers in the same box on the org chart.
Generalists with range—commercial plus digital, supply chain plus marketing—adapt faster, connect dots across silos, and thrive in the ambiguity that comes with restructured organizations.
 
The companies driving growth today aren’t just seeking “decades of category experience.” They’re hunting for agility, translation skills, and leaders who can prove they’re more than their job title.

The Uncomfortable Truth

If your résumé shows 15 years in the same category with minimal cross-functional exposure, hiring managers don’t see stability anymore. They see rigidity. They see someone who may not survive the next restructure.
 
This doesn’t mean expertise is irrelevant. It means expertise without range is a liability.
 
The executives thriving today aren’t the ones with the longest tenure in a single category.They’re the ones who can say:
  • “I led beverages, but I also rebuilt our e-commerce P&L”
  • “I’m a marketer, but I’ve run end-to-end innovation pipelines”
  • “I came from supply chain, but I’ve presented commercial strategies to the C-suite”

Reframing Your Value

If you’ve built your career as a specialist, the challenge now is proving range without abandoning depth. Ask yourself:
  • What adjacent functions do you understand well enough to speak their language?
  • Where have you translated knowledge across categories or geographies?
  • How have you demonstrated adaptability when your organization restructured?
  • Can you point to moments where you connected dots others missed?
Because in 2025, the org chart doesn’t reward tenure. It rewards adaptability.

The Question Ahead

Will the era of the single-category expert truly end, or will the pendulum swing back once restructuring fatigue sets in?I don’t have a crystal ball. But I do know this: right now, in the searches I’m running across Europe for FMCG and beauty clients, the leaders getting hired aren’t the ones who stayed in their lane the longest. They’re the ones who learned to drive in multiple lanes—and proved they could merge when it mattered.The fix isn’t to abandon your expertise. It’s to prove you can apply it beyond the borders of where you built it.

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