08/05/2019

Why New Leaders Are At Risk Of Failure

Now is an unusually busy time for transition in leadership roles

This is an unusually busy time for transition in leadership roles, which ought to concern anybody who aspires to a leadership position.

The CEO suite isn’t exactly a revolving door, but the pace of change is higher than ever, according to a new  study from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Strategy&. The turnover rate for CEOs in 2018 was 12 percent, the highest it’s been since the study began 19 years ago. The average CEO tenure has declined, from eight years in 2000 to five years today. And though the percentage of CEOs who were forced out of the job has remained relatively steady, the reasons more leaders are getting shown the door have changed. More execs—39 percent last year compared to 26 percent in 2017—are leaving under a cloud of ethical lapses, which can encompass fraud, insider trading, sexual indiscretions, and the like.

My colleague Ernie Smith recently reported on those CEO exit numbers. But the PwC report left me curious about what these changes mean for the people who’ll be asked to step in as successors. For the ones replacing an ethically lapsed executive, some expertise in damage control will be highly valued. But more than that, they’ll need a support system that’s prepared to help a new leader lead, which will demand a strong board.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.