"Firing the head coach-just like firing the CEO in the business world-is the easy answer, and it looks good in the media: decisive, forward-looking, taking action. But, most times, this act alone falls short of fixing the problems that contributed to an organization's failures. PART OF A SYSTEM In reality, the CEO is part of a system, and it's the system that matters."
"You can have a B player CEO with a great team and board and deliver significant performance and culture gains. Alternatively, you can have an A player CEO with a weak board and team and fail spectacularly. If you only focus on "fixing the CEO," you're not focused on the right problem and can't get to the right solution. Yet CEO turnover is at its highest level in more than a decade, according to a 2026 Spencer Stuart study reported in The Wall Street Journal."
Ten NFL head coaches were fired, representing about 31% of all NFL coaches, including John Harbaugh and Sean McDermott. Firing a head coach or CEO often serves as an easy, media-friendly response but frequently fails to resolve the root causes of poor performance. Organizational outcomes depend on systems: a B-player CEO with a strong team and board can achieve gains, while an A-player CEO with weak governance can fail. CEO turnover rose sharply in 2025, with roughly one in nine CEOs replaced among 1,500 large companies, and Disney illustrates the limits of leadership change.
Read at Fast Company
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