The path to the C-suite can feel long, uncertain—and at times, brutally competitive. Just ask Coca-Cola executive chairman James Quincey, who says his rise to the top had less to do with careful planning and more to do with endurance.
“In the end, how did I get to where I am?” Quincey said in a recent interview at the London Business School. “You could argue it’s survivor basis. I just flipped heads every time the coin went after 20 job rounds, and therefore I’m the only one left.
“Kind of like Squid Game.”
The comparison to the hit Netflix dystopian series where contestants survive round after round of high-stakes elimination games may be tongue-in-cheek. But Quincey’s point is serious: Success often comes down to navigating whatever challenge is in front of you, again and again, until others fall away.
British-born Quincey joined Coca-Cola in 1996 without a rigid road map for becoming CEO. Instead, he gravitated toward roles that challenged him—moving through leadership positions in Latin America, including president of the company’s South American and Mexican divisions, before ultimately taking the helm as CEO in 2017 and executive chairman in 2019. Late last month, he stepped away from the CEO job to focus solely on the chairmanship.
Gen Z wants better work-life balance. Ex–Coca-Cola CEO calls it a ‘weird phrase’
Ultimately, Quincey said, the secret to any success isn’t perfection—it is persistence.
“No one gets there by being the wallpaper. You’re going to have to be famous for something in each job,” Quincey said, emphasizing that standing out requires taking risks—and accepting that not every bet will pay off.
That mindset extends beyond the office, too. Quincey is skeptical of the idea of work-life balance, calling it a misleading way to think about careers.
“This whole work-life balance thing, which is kind of a weird phrase if you ask me, because last time I checked work was part of life, not separate,” he said. “You have to choose how you want to invest your life … and that mix can change over time. But it’s always your choice.”
Those decisions, he added, will compound. How you spend your time today can shape the opportunities available to you decades down the line.
His view comes as workers, faced with a volatile job market, are rethinking career priorities. Work-life balance is now the top factor for talent when considering jobs, according to a 2025 Workmonitor report from Randstad. About 83% of respondents list it as the most important consideration, marking the first time work-life balance has surpassed pay in the survey’s 22-year history.
Gen Z in particular, whose entry-level roles are drying up, is bearing the brunt of a push for better working conditions. A recent KPMG survey of interns found that Gen Z workers will sacrifice, on average, $5,000 in salary for a better work-life balance.
Fortune reached out to Coca-Cola for further comment.
Quincey ‘daydreams’ and takes mornings slow to figure out how to best prioritize his work
Even at the top of the career ladder, being intentional about focus becomes more important than ever, the 61-year-old said—and his own approach is notably unconventional.
“Choosing what to focus on and sticking to a few priorities becomes even more valuable,” he told students at London Business School. “I daydream.”
“I get up very slowly in the mornings, I drink lots of coffee, and I have breakfast, and I don’t fill my day with meetings,” he added.
While that level of flexibility may not be realistic for everyone, his advice for young people looking to jump-start their careers is straightforward: “Do something that gets you out of bed in the morning. There’s no harder job than the one you don’t want to do.”
