Roger Saunders

CEOs Shuffle In and Out at Retail

January 17, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
According to a study from recruiting firm Russell Reynolds Associates, retailers are seeing a notably higher turnover rate at the CEO level than firms in other sectors and also face a limited crop of replacement candidates. What is driving the apparent higher turnover rates in retail relative to other industries?      [more...]

Flip this study over. Instead of looking at departing CEOs, look at the CEOs who have remained in place more than 5 years at their respective firms.

You'll likely find that those leaders had 10 to 20 years of experience within their own firm. They had a chance to hit a number of different "chairs" (different markets and different disciplines), and they had tenured mentors within the organization that guided them with experiences in strategy, execution, AND culture.

Succession is made a greater challenge at retail, because retail doesn't focus on holding on to their own quite as well as other industries. That issue will be further exacerbated by the fact that associates coming out of schools aren't shown the benefits and merits of holding the loyalty to larger firms that they may have seen in past decades. Pre-recession, a 22 year old could be expected to work for over 3 companies prior to age 30.