"In the defining years of American business, founding CEOs were virtually synonymous with the companies they led. Walt Disney was Disney incarnate; Dale Carnegie came to represent the steel industry itself. These figures were not just company leaders; they were the gravitational center around which entire industries revolved. Those days are gone. Though we still have echoes in modern chief executives like Tim Cook or Richard Branson, these figureheads, too, are becoming rarer."
"In fact, the average CEO tenure is the lowest in recent history. Over the past three years, CEO turnover has reached record highs, with 58 leadership changes in the S&P 500 alone. This pattern has prompted the C-suite to focus on a new leadership strategy: employing interim CEOs. Eighteen percent of all new CEOs are interim appointments compared to 7% just a year ago."
"Interims occupy a liminal space in the risk-averse, C-suite business world. Their temporary position frees them from the common pitfalls others so frequently get stuck in: politicking, backslapping, and monitoring rather than doing. With the right instincts and a good plan, however, the best interim CEOs can assess internal dynamics, align fellow leaders, and make key decisions while laying the groundwork for their successor or becoming permanent installations themselves."
Founding CEOs once embodied their companies and anchored entire industries. Modern CEO tenures have shortened, and turnover has surged, with 58 leadership changes in the S&P 500 over three years. Interim CEOs now comprise 18% of new CEO appointments, up from 7% a year earlier. Many organizations still treat interims as temporary placeholders, but leading firms empower them to enact rapid, bold change, reduce costs, and break stale patterns. Interim CEOs can avoid internal politicking, assess dynamics, align leadership, make decisive moves, and either prepare the company for a successor or become permanent leaders themselves. James M. Cornelius led partnerships and cost-reduction initiatives as interim CEO at Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Read at Fast Company
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