Business
fromHarvard Business Review
7 hours agoWhat the Best Private Equity-Backed CEOs Do Differently
More than 50% of CEOs in private equity-backed companies fail to meet expectations and are replaced during the investment period.
It wasn't that they were superhuman. It's that they learned faster, they were more adaptable and they had structures ... institutionalized methods for being able to neutralize their excesses and capitalize on their strength and edge.
The research centered around a model that probed the selection of 1,345 CEOs from 900 S&P 1500 firms between 1990 and 2020, and found that generally lower CEO performance versus expectations following succession correlated with higher experience among the directors who chose them. But there was a catch - this was the opposite when the CEO involuntarily left (where previous experience led to a better hire). Where the CEO voluntarily left, previous hiring experience meant weaker performance from the candidate appointed.
As an advisor to many CEOs of Fortune 500 companies over the years, I've found a common thread that might surprise you: CEOs work hard but they also know how to recharge faster and better. Just like in fitness, recovery is a key part of exertion. At work, learning to micro-relax better can increase energy, productivity and, quite frankly, joy.
Companies with long-distance CEOs exhibit lower financial performance. Despite Minnesota having fewer of these executives compared to neighboring states, some public companies do have them, like UnitedHealth Group and Target.