---
id: "contrarian-work-for-individuals"
type: "contrarian-insight"
source_timestamps: ["¶113", "¶114", "¶116"]
tags: ["career-advice", "mentorship", "women-in-leadership"]
related: ["entity-indra-nooyi"]
speakers: ["Indra Nooyi"]
challenges: "The conventional view that early-career professionals should prioritize institutional prestige (brand-name companies) over specific reporting structures."
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/innovating-at-the-core-and-for-the-future"
source_title: "Innovating at the Core—and for the Future"
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-cl-91-innovating-core-and-future"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/innovating-at-the-core-and-for-the-future"
sourceTitle: "Innovating at the Core—and for the Future"
---
# Early in your career, work for an individual, not an institution

**Challenges:** the conventional view that early-career professionals should prioritize institutional prestige (brand-name companies) over specific reporting structures.

Career advice often focuses on getting into the most prestigious institution or company possible. [[entity-indra-nooyi]] argues that early in a career (especially for women), it is vastly more important to work for a specific *individual* who will actively mentor, push, and promote you. Only later in life, once established, should you shift your loyalty to an institution.

**Enrichment.** Supported by sponsorship research (a powerful advocate is a key predictor of advancement, particularly for women and underrepresented groups, sometimes outweighing firm prestige). Caveat: over-reliance on a single sponsor is risky if that person leaves or loses influence, and in some industries institutional pedigree remains a strong early-career signal.