We introduce the concept of CEO career variety - defined as the array of distinct professional and institutional experiences an executive has had prior to becoming CEO. Using a longitudinal sample of Fortune 250 CEOs, we hypothesize, and find strong evidence, that CEO career variety is positively associated with firm-level strategic novelty - manifested in strategic dynamism (period-on-period change) and strategic distinctiveness (deviance from industry central tendencies). We also find mixed evidence that CEO career variety is positively associated with social novelty - manifested in top management team turnover and heterogeneity.