Being a CEO is not the best time, judging by the wave of resignations that have been happening in the US lately. Noel Quinn from HSBC unexpectedly announced on Tuesday that he will step down as CEO when the board chooses his successor. Bob Bakish from Paramount Global resigned from the media giant on Monday, and Kenny Wilson from Dr Martens recently stated that this will be his last year leading the footwear company.
Their departures are part of a broader trend. In the last quarter, a record number of CEOs changed in American companies - 622. This is 48% more than the same period last year, and 27% more than in the previous quarter. This information was reported by the human resources firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which has been tracking these changes since 2002.
“C-level leaders have experienced incredibly challenging years, and they are stepping down from their roles for new opportunities or to start a new life elsewhere,” commented Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of the company.
- “Being a CEO sucks,” said Emad Mostaque, former leader of Stability AI, in March.
- “After five tense years for me, it's the right time to find the best balance between personal and business life,” wrote Noel Quinn from HSBC in a press release.
- “The depth of loneliness I experienced as a CEO is hard to put into words,” wrote Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky in January.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk complained that running a company is “actually not that fun”, and sometimes “just awful”. According to him, CEOs are burdened with the “most awful problems in the company” that no one else can solve. In 2022, Musk also complained that he sometimes feels “pretty lonely” if he lives alone while working on a project and doesn't even have a dog for companionship.
The combination of immense pressure, stress, loneliness, and lack of work-life balance that often accompanies the CEO position can fully explain why few people stay in this position for long.
But in every trend there are exceptions: Warren Buffett has been the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for over half a century. The 93-year-old man apparently held on for so long because he hires a whole army of CEOs to manage the many companies he has acquired over the years.
“We delegate almost to the moment of abdication,” he wrote in his “Owner’s Manual”. Delegating daily responsibilities allows Buffett to focus on what he loves to do: allocate capital within and outside his company.
Source: Business Insider
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