05/20/2024

Why CEOs Need to Plan Their Exits

Smart CEOs create pipelines that build future leaders and successors

Don’t you think it’s time you quit?

For many CEOs reading this, the answer is probably “not yet.” Though the average CEO tenure in the corporate world has stayed relatively steady in recent years, there is also a growing phenomenon of “forever CEOs,” those who’ve stayed in the job for a decade or decades.

There are upsides to a long-tenured exec—stability, institutional knowledge, experience with common crises and more. But there are also challenges, as a recent article in the New York Times Magazine points out: A steady hand at the helm also means a risk-averse leader who misses opportunities to innovate. The chief example of this in the article is Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, who managed the company through a “lost decade” where it let the competition pull ahead on search, smartphones and social media. The company stayed afloat, but it didn’t—forgive me—excel.

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