Career Breaks Reframed as Engines of Renewal and Growth.

Executives Who Design Purposeful Pauses Unlock Energy, Clarity, and Longevity in Leadership.

The Power Of The Purposeful Pause

Once branded a career killer, the executive sabbatical is being recast as a strategic resource. Roland Berger’s Think:Act reports that an extended pause, when intentional and well-designed, restores leaders’ energy, reframes purpose, and strengthens both professional and personal longevity. Breaks are no longer indulgent detours — they are part of the infrastructure of sustainable leadership.

Shifting From Stigma to Strategy

Data undercuts the old perception that pausing signals weakness or stalled momentum. A 2022 global LinkedIn survey found that 53% of people who took a break said it made them better at their job after return, while 46% of hiring managers believed breaks surfaced valuable soft skills. And yet stigma remains, especially for women: 64% of female professionals report a career hiatus, most often linked to caregiving.

The evidence is clear: what was once interpreted as derailment is now reframed as a reset that compounds long-term career performance.

Case Studies of Renewal

• Daisy Auger-Domínguez (Viacom, Google, Vice Media) used her first break to write Inclusion Revolution, reframing her purpose around equity. Her pause transformed a career setback into cultural leadership.

• Rachael O’Meara, after a three-month sabbatical from Google, rebuilt her purpose and later authored Pause, arguing that sabbaticals should be normalized for corporate leaders just as they are for tenured academics.

• Tankut Sensurucu shifted perspective after a personal loss while at Coca-Cola, redesigning his trajectory and later becoming partner at Egon Zehnder.

• James Raybould, former LinkedIn executive, paused after 12 years to reconnect with family and pursue passions. He later returned on his own terms as a fractional leader across multiple ventures.

These stories show the compounding effect of pauses: clarity of purpose, reframed identity, and renewed energy translated into longer, stronger leadership arcs.

Designing Breaks With Purpose

Experts caution that pauses are not automatic catalysts, they must be designed deliberately. The report outlines five levers executives can use:

• Define the “why”: burnout, renewal, or recalibration.

• Embrace “un-structure”: open space for wandering and reflection.

• Adopt a framework: clarify goals for the hiatus.

• Get guidance: enlist mentors or close advisors.

• Set duration: frame the length in a way that hiring managers accept.

This design discipline transforms a pause from a gap in the résumé into proof of foresight, resilience, and leadership maturity.

Gender, Perception, and Equity

The material consequence of stigma remains gendered. As Daisy Auger-Domínguez notes, women still bear the burden of societal norms linking them disproportionately to caregiving. That imbalance distorts leadership pipelines and economic stability.

Until organizations normalize the pause as infrastructure, rather than exception, they risk excluding a generation of female leaders from sustained influence.

Recommendations

• Normalize The Pause: Treat sabbaticals as leadership infrastructure, not anomalies.

• Audit Perceptions: Track gendered penalties in performance reviews and promotion cycles.

• Design Frameworks: Encourage leaders to formalize purpose, goals, and re-entry plans for every pause.

• Institutionalize Recovery: Embed pause structures as part of executive development, similar to corporate athlete training cycles.

• Leverage Returns: Capture and apply insights from post-pause leaders to strengthen cultural and organizational renewal.

Bottom Line: Pauses are not absences, they are assets.

Executives who design and defend purposeful pauses return with clarity, energy, and longevity. Organizations that normalize sabbaticals convert stigma into strength, extending leadership life cycles, deepening resilience, and compounding the economic value of their human capital.