Who Wants To Be The CEO? Why CEOs Are Packing It In

Top corporate recruitment firm MBS Group has talked to CEOs who have made the switch from running ‘Big Corp’ to smaller concerns. It makes for insightful reading. MBS Group’s report cites six key reasons why CEOs are packing their bags:

1. Exhaustion - this one is gaining coverage since the Lloyds Banking Group’s CEO, Antonio Horta-Osoria, took leave of absence due to stress and fatigue earlier this year. At time of writing, Mr H-O is saying he now wants to return, but shareholders are asking for assurances that this time he’ll be back for good before they reopen the door. It will be interesting to see if and how he is able to convince them, especially as another reason CEOs give for moving on is…
2. Media scrutiny - I’ve heard that many a CEO will say that their financial PR agency is the team that keeps them in a job. Whilst that’s rather damning about the CEO’s team and the trust they have in one another, it’s also an acknowledgement of how corporate leaders are much more in the public eye these days, and frequently find themselves as media fodder.
3. Pressure to deliver results - this one confounds me just a little: didn’t they know about that when they took the job? Aren’t there ways that a candidate’s ability to handle pressure can be assessed during recruitment? Yes, at the moment there is close scrutiny and pressure on organisations that are struggling to deliver results, yet I’d have thought that this is a case of reaping what organisations and their leaders have sown.
4. Losing talent - seems to me that they themselves are part of the loss. There is often an orderly queue behind the departing leader. Also, especially in tough times, an organisation that has just become leaderless can prove a happy hunting ground for talent scouts looking to lure away the disenfranchised. There may also be a sense of despair at the organisation’s inability to hang on to its best people.
5. Corporate nonsense - amen to that. If all you’re doing is playing B*@$%^it Bingo in interminable meetings then it may well be time to move on. Megafirms can get really bogged down in process and lose sight of why they’re on the planet at all. One of our clients has a 30-minute rule for meetings; it can be devilishly effective.
6. Personal reasons - both men and women talk in the MBS report about wanting to spend more time with children and spouse, having time for exercise and even (whisper this) hobbies. This generation of leaders seems to have a vision of success that includes their nearest and dearest and a life beyond work.

So what’s to be done?

The report offers suggestions, such as greater autonomy. I also think that the CEO’s fellow Board members need to step up to the plate and share the load - which includes that pressure to deliver results and media scrutiny - and be accountable for doing so. And surely they’re all old enough and big enough to put a stop to excessive corporate nonsense? There’s also something about the personal reasons that megafirms need to wise up to, along with the tendency to expect leaders (indeed, often all employees) to be ‘always on’, to allow people to have a life. Otherwise, we could be witnessing the beginning of a trend.

For the MBS Group’s full report, click here.