Jennifer Dulski, the Founder and CEO of Rising Team and a prominent lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, has shared insights into her unconventional career journey, emphasizing how taking strategic demotions plays a pivotal role in her success.
Dulski began her career in 1999 with Yahoo, accepting a marketing position that offered significantly less compensation that other opportunities she had at the time. “Most of my peers didn’t understand that choice at the time, but I was excited about getting started in tech,” Dulski told Business Insider. Her passion for technology and business outweighed the financial considerations, setting the stage for her future achievements.
Her career has been marked by a series of bold decisions, including her willingness to take a demotion. When Dulski chose to transition into a general management role at Yahoo, she took a step down from her marketing position. “People looked at me and said, ‘what are you doing?’ But I knew I wanted to try to run a business,” she recalled. This move, though seemingly counterintuitive, proved to be a strategic one. “It set my career on a different path. I ended up being promoted. And in around 18 months, they gave me six businesses to run.”
Dulski’s journey continued with a stint at Dealmap, a startup she joined after leaving her senior executive role at Yahoo. The startup was later acquired by Google, where she continued her career before making another unexpected move to become president and CEO of Change.org. Her path eventually led her to Facebook, where she managed groups and communities.
After 25 years in leadership roles across major tech companies, Dulski launched Rising Team in 2020. Reflecting on her career, she noted, “I’ve taken what I consider the unexpected or less obvious career option at many points along the road. In 2020 I started my own company, which feels like the culmination of my career.”