Steve Cadigan

Steve Cadigan is an American talent strategist, author, and the founding vice president of talent at LinkedIn, where he helped build the company’s talent organization from its earliest days and played a central role in shaping its culture as it grew from a small startup into a global platform. His 2021 book Workquake: Embracing the Aftershocks of COVID-19 to Create a Better Model of Working examines the profound disruptions that the pandemic brought to work, talent, and organizational culture and offers frameworks for navigating what he sees as a fundamental and permanent shift in how work happens.

Cadigan studied at the University of California and has spent his career in human resources and talent leadership, working with major technology companies before and after his time at LinkedIn. He founded Cadigan Talent Ventures, a consultancy that works with companies on building talent strategies appropriate to the new landscape of work.

His perspective on talent and work has been shaped by his front-row seat at one of the most transformative companies of the digital age. He argues that the old models of employer-employee relationships — premised on loyalty, stability, and the long-term career arc within a single organization — are obsolete, and that organizations that recognize the new reality of shorter tenures, portfolio careers, and employee agency will be better positioned to attract and retain the talent they need.

Cadigan has been a speaker at conferences including SHRM, TEDx, and various technology and talent forums worldwide. He has been featured in media including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The Financial Times, and he continues to advise executives and organizations on the future of work.