Why Skills-First Leadership Is Replacing the Ivy League Playbook in the C-Suite
05/23/2025
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The old prestige pyramid—where Ivy League degrees and blue-chip consulting backgrounds paved the way to the CEO seat—is cracking.
May 27, 2022: -After Klarna announced on Monday that it was laying off 10% of its workforce, some rival fintech is making it clear that they have no intention of removing from the job or stopping hiring.
The $33 billion digital banking start-up known as Revolut said that the company is “actively hiring,” with over 250 open roles listed.
Meanwhile, Wise CEO Kristo Karmann said the money transfer firm based in London is in a “different place” to tech firms letting staff go.
“Years of building Wise as a profitable long-term company is paying off now,” Karmann tweeted on Wednesday.
“So much demand for international banking, we cannot hire people fast enough to build it,” he added. However, German digital bank N26 said it has “no current plans to decrease the headcount.” The firm was previously valued at $9 billion.
“We will continue to make strategic investments to grow our team, focusing mainly on product, technology, compliance, and financial crime prevention,” an N26 spokesperson said.
It shows a stark contrast with Klarna. The motto of buy now, pay later, which lets shoppers split their purchases into equal, monthly installments, said it is planning to cut an evaluated 700 roles because of a souring economic climate.
“When we set our business plans for 2022 in the autumn of the previous year, it was another world than the one we are in today,” Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told the staff on Monday.
“Since then, we have seen a tragic and unnecessary war in Ukraine unfold, a shift in consumer sentiment, a steep growth in inflation, a highly volatile stock market, and a likely recession,” he added in the pre-recorded video.
Like Robinhood and Better.com, other financial tech firms have taken measures to cut jobs and rein in costs this year.
Digital finance got a significant boost from the Covid pandemic as people turned to online channels to make payments and apply for loans and trade shares. But the sector beat in 2022 as the war in Ukraine, the climbing inflation, and higher interest rates led investors to question lofty valuations in the space. Wise has lost almost two-thirds of its market value since its July 2021 listing.
The old prestige pyramid—where Ivy League degrees and blue-chip consulting backgrounds paved the way to the CEO seat—is cracking.
Loud leaders once ruled the boardroom. Charisma was currency. Big talk drove big valuations.
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