Tag Archives: Fortune 500

C-Suite Exits Reach Highs in 2022

Companies, Economy, , ,

As 2022 comes to a close, businesses are assessing their ups and downs. It is no secret that Fortune 500 companies have had a very difficult year. The result, though, is somewhat unexpected.

Many top executives are leaving their longtime positions. CEOs have made exits from huge corporations, such as Starbucks, FedEx, Disney, Kohl’s, AMC, Salesforce, and more. The bigger problem is what comes next. It’s become clear that many of these entities have never put a succession plan in place. And, with global markets on the verge of entering a recession, the timing for this unpreparedness is less than ideal.

There were reportedly 774 CEO exits between January and June 2022. This is the highest first half total in 20 years, since the Challenger, Gray, & Christmas outplacement firm started keeping track. By the third quarter of 2022, resignations slowed down, but there was another spike of high-profile exits just this month.

Without a succession plan, companies suddenly find themselves racing to find a replacement CEO. Conducting this type of search under such pressured terms usually doesn’t bode well. Investors are hit with a mixture of surprise and fear, and stocks prices can take a toll. When Salesforce’s co-CEO Bret Taylor resigned last week, share sales shot down.

So, what can be done? A popular solution that companies have implemented is reinstating familiar faces. Both Disney and Starbucks brought back their former CEOs, offering reassurance to shareholders.

The long-term remedy, however, is to plan ahead. Public company board members made their voices heard in a recent survey saying that CEO succession plans need to be improved. Investors are also becoming blatantly aware of the impacts, with a reported $1 trillion per year loss in the S&P 1,500 directly related to C-suite exits.

While companies are busy devising goals for the coming year, it will be interesting to see how many truly internalize this pattern and strategize accordingly.

MBA Not Prerequisite to CEO-dom

Lifestyle, , , , , ,

A Good Think to Have
A Good Thing to Have

It would be hard to argue that having and MBA from a well-respected graduate school is not helpful in a businessman’s climb up the corporate ladder, it seems such a degree is not always necessary.

One startling example is the head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. He has consistently taken his company higher in the rankings of the famed Fortune 500, without hair nor hide of an MBA. With just a BA from Princeton Bezos founded and nurtured Amazon to the rank of 35 on the Forbes list, not to mention making Amazon a household name-brand.

Also lacking an MBA is the CEO of Plains GP Holdings, Greg L. Armstrong. The company owns and operates storage facilities for natural gas and manages other businesses. Armstrong has directed his company to the 70th position on the Forbes 500.

Amazingly it turns out that less than half of the CEOs at the top 100 companies on the Forbes list actually have MBAs.

“To actually get in the C-suite, it’s a little bit like winning the lottery. Especially for a Fortune 100 company,” says David G. Rohlander, author of The CEO Code: Create a Great Company and Inspire People to Greatness with Practical Advice from an Experienced Executive.  “A pattern of successfully accomplishing your goals and an optimistic mindset are two of the most important traits for becoming a CEO,” he says.

Having an MBA might not guarantee a place at the head of a company, but it can certainly help an ambitious person to get ahead. Rohlander, who has an MBA in finance from California State University’s business school, says that earning an MBA is definitely “going to give you a better capability of thinking.”