Take one public-co compensation-committee board seat now — directorship is the natural next rung for CHROs and where the function's late-career compounding actually happens.

Build a named external practice in a specific area (AI-era workforce design, executive compensation, or labor-relations playbook) with one annual signature publication — function-level scarcity is balanced unless you carve a sub-specialism.

Move from active to industry_known visibility (regular podcast or LinkedIn long-form cadence at peer-recognised level) — the cheapest 2–3 OVR points and the strongest signal for the next CHRO search.