CEOs, Here is What You SHOULD NEVER DO When You Lose Your Job

I have been working with CEOs since 2010 when I started my own business.

God was merciful: on the one hand it took away my former business journalism profession in April 2010 when our magazine Czech Business Weekly was closed, and on the other hand it granted me a premium target audience: CEOs and C-Suite level company executives who needed to talk to journalists in order to manage their reputations during and after their CEO mandates.?

In my 14 years of practice, here is what I noticed about exiting CEOs.?

The Length of the CEO Mandate Has Gone Down Worldwide

Over the last 30 years, the length of a CEO tenure went down significantly all over the world.?

Thanks ChatGPT for the following information:

• In the S&P 500, the average CEO tenure has slightly decreased from 7.6 years in 2013 to 7.2 years in 2022. The median tenure, however, has seen a more significant drop from six years to 4.8 years during the same period (The CEO Magazine) (Equilar).
• Globally, CEO tenures have also been affected, with notable declines. For instance, the tenure in the top 50 ASX-listed companies in Australia dropped from 8.5 years in 2003 to 3.7 years in recent years (The CEO Magazine).

• In different regions and industries, the length of CEO tenure can vary. For example, the transportation and communications sectors have the highest average CEO age, indicating longer tenures, whereas services companies have the lowest (Harvard Corporate Governance Forum).

• The rate of CEO turnover has increased due to various factors, including higher ethical standards and demands for new leadership to address technological advancements and changing market conditions (The CEO Magazine) (Equilar).

?And yet, some CEOs somehow think they will last forever in their role.

And when the end comes, it usually takes them by surprise.?

Two Very Different Types of CEO Exits

There are basically two types of CEO exit: a voluntary one, and a forced one.?

The voluntary exit is much better and more gentle to the CEO psyche. In fact, many CEOs contemplating their exit out of their free will do act and start planning their future and their next career step in time. This is what helps them to sail a bit smoother into the post-CEO unchartered waters.?

The second option is, of course, much more painful.?

Many times CEOs get so busy with operations and with trying to prove their (personal) worth to the company shareholders that they can get blindsided by an abrupt decision to be let go. I have seen this over and over again – a failure to see the whole system and the complex stakeholder motivation leading to a sudden CEO downfall.?

This leads to:

1.????? Emotional shock and trauma – I wrote about grieving CEOs in a previous edition of this newsletter.

2.????? A punch in the gut for their self-confidence.

3.????? Reactive personal and career moves aimed to counteract the pain caused by their sudden loss.?

What Should a CEO Who Has Lost Their Job Suddenly Do? ?

The wiser CEOs do two things in this type of gut-wrenching situation:

1.????? They understand the value of reputation management, they pay attention, and they make conscious efforts to manage the narrative around their exit so they can fall back on their feet and start running when they are ready for a new top leadership role.

2.????? They withdraw from the public eye for a while to rest, grieve, digest what happened, take some therapy or life coaching, travel, learn new things, reconnect with their families, friends, and with themselves etc.?

Basically, the wise future CEOs use their apparent loss and turn it into a wonderful opportunity to regroup and to come back stronger.

This is exactly what Steve Jobs did in 1985 after being laid off from the company he founded – and we know how successful he became after returning to Apple in 1997. ??

And What Should a CEO Who Has Lost Their Job Suddenly NEVER Do? ?

Make an impulsive, reactive career move just to stay active, to show the world that they still matter, and to drown their sorrow in fresh new work.?

How can such an impulsive carer move look like?

1.????? TAKING AN UNFIT ROLE IN A BAD COMPANY.

When you have just left a good company – for whatever reason – there will be sharks in the water. I know it because when Czech Business Weekly was closed and we, the journalist and editor team, were on the market I got 7 job offers within one month, some paying twice to three times what my previous job paid.

But did these companies want me, really me?

Nope.

They wanted my glow, my contact network, and a quick visibility stunt by putting out a press release about a prestigious new hire.

Stay away from such sharks. This is why, in times of trauma and grief, it is so strongly recommended to take some time off to regroup so you can assess all new job opportunities rationally. A grieving person will rarely be fully rational in their decision-making.

2.????? CLAIMING TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR – USUALLY A MENTOR AND A COACH. Now this is the option that gets me smoke through my nostrils and ears.?

Making a decision to become an entrepreneur – to create and run your own business - is a life-altering decision.

Being an entrepreneur is almost as challenging as being the CEO, with the only difference that you’ll never pocket so much money and you never get to keep it all for yourself.

So, if this is what you truly want - welcome in the entrepreneurial arena. We should talk. But if you are using entrepreneurship as a quick band-aid for your ego...?I am coming for you ??

Equally, treating the mentoring and coaching professions with so much superficiality makes me want to scream.?

Hear me out: when I see people with no coaching or mentoring qualifications whatsoever pretending to become coaches, mentors, and entrepreneurs to leverage their former company brand, make a quick buck, and drink from the firehose of "I still matter," all this while busy looking for their next corporate job...

... that, friends, makes me see red.?

This behavior is a slap in the face of any decent, hard-working real entrepreneur, coach, and mentor who have earned their certifications and accreditations through blood, sweat, and tears and who – guess what – most probably have paid for their training, certifications, and accreditations FROM THEIR OWN POCKET.?

So no, my friend. Just because you are a former CEO and you are now on the market desperate to matter, that doesn’t give you the right to pretend that you are a mentor or a coach.?

This strategy is cheap, it’s fake and it’s dangerous.?

And it makes you look like a fraud.?

Howgh!

Rant over ???

Putting aside my personal sensitivities when an unqualified person pretends to be a mentor or a coach just because the people development market is still immature, the two professions are new, and people in general look up to corporate leaders assigning them superpowers they usually don't have, here are the risks that such an impulsive former CEO exposes themselves to:

1.????? Recruiters who might be inclined to headhunt them for a new role might hesitate to invite them for an interview because they notice the former CEO has already started their own business.

2.????? Low credibility in the eyes of potential customers, unless the person is truly qualified to sell what they claim to sell.

3.????? A quick exhaustion of their hot lead pool – usually within a year. After this the real entrepreneurial muscles need to kick in – and if you don’t have it, this will lead to…

4.????? Loss of credibility on the market and a much, much harder return to a CEO role.

Ultimately, the people engaging in this second type of impulsive career move end up in lower, worse-paid corporate roles (C-Suite or C-1) where they simmer in frustration trying to figure out where their careers and lives went wrong. This is a special type of hell I wish no one. And it all started because… the CEO failed to prepare for their own exit.?

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Could Your CEO Exit Be Around the Corner and You Want to Be Mentally, Emotionally, Financially, and Strategically Ready for It? Let’s Talk.

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