Good morning. David Kennedy has spent more than 27 years at Dell Technologies—an almost unimaginable tenure in an era when many Gen Z workers see changing companies as the surest path to advancement.
Kennedy took a different path. He built his career by continuously changing roles within one company. In November 2025, that path culminated in his appointment as CFO. His path wasn’t linear, but it was deliberate, Kennedy said. He joined Dell as an intern in Limerick, Ireland, after graduating from the University of Limerick. Early on, Kennedy set a goal to rotate through different finance functions every 18 to 21 months. “I’ve done a tour of duty in every finance function you can think of,” he told me.
He also pushed beyond finance, taking assignments in sales, business unit leadership, and international postings in India, and, now, the U.S.
At a time when younger workers often feel pressure to switch employers in order to gain diverse experience and move up, Kennedy’s career offers a counterpoint: breadth, reinvention, and advancement can also come from moving intentionally within one company.
According to Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, younger workers are highly focused on advancement but less drawn to traditional leadership tracks. Yet Kennedy’s trajectory suggests that even in a corporate landscape defined by job-hopping, the conventional route of building range and credibility at a single employer remains a viable one for younger workers.
Kennedy made his ambitions known and pursued opportunities as they arose, even when they were not obvious fits. Those experiences stretched him. “I said, ‘I’m looking to learn new things,’” Kennedy explained. “And then you lean on the mentors you have, and then they say, ‘Okay, go over here and do this job.’”
That openness to experimentation also changed how he viewed his career. Kennedy always knew he wanted to be an accountant. “But I started to get the bug for the story within the numbers,” he said.
Cross-functional roles, particularly those working alongside sales, supply chain, and services leaders, became a turning point. These positions gave him a broader business perspective and valuable context on the company’s activities, which he said was a critical part of his development.Kennedy went on to serve as senior vice president and chief financial officer of the client solutions group, chief operating officer of global sales, and senior vice president of global business operations and finance.
“It’s one thing knowing the numbers,” he said. “It’s knowing the context of the numbers and the risks and opportunities in those numbers. That’s the extra secret sauce.”
That perspective helped prepare him for the top finance job. And while Kennedy’s 27-year run at one company may be unusual today, the underlying lesson is that meaningful career growth comes from continually expanding one’s range, deepening judgment, and seeking out stretch opportunities—whether that happens within one company or across several.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estradasheryl.estrada@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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