20% Decrease in S&P 500 Median CEO Tenure

Why are CEO Tenures Decreasing and What Should CEOs Know?

CEOs are challenged more than ever to navigate economic turmoil and market uncertainties with agility and resilience.

Recent studies highlight a notable decline in CEO tenure rates. The landscape of executive leadership is changing.

According to recent @Equilar research, the median tenure among S&P 500 CEOs has decreased by 20% over the past decade, dropping from six years in 2013 to 4.8 years in 2022. According to recent @Spencer Stuart research, the average S&P 500 CEO tenure has declined to at 8.9 years. Across the full S&P 1500, the average tenure of outgoing CEOs has dipped 10%.

The disparity between median and average figures reflects the challenges faced by many chief executives, and is driven by a small subset of "forever CEOs" skewing the average upward with 20+ years in their positions.

Several factors contribute to these shortened tenures, including:

• Evolving roles
• Heightened accountability
• Rapid pace of technological change
• COVID-19 impact
• "Glass cliff" phenomenon for women 

The majority of CEOs also expect leadership to be more challenging in 2024.

What can be done?

As Chief Marketing Officers, we work with CEOs who are encountering these challenges on a daily basis. Whether it be growth pressure, the need to quickly increase profit, AI adaptation, complex business problems, or resource challenges, we help organizations adapt to change and grow sustainably at an accelerated rate.

Will you or won’t you be part of the 20%?

About The CMO Syndicate

The CMO Syndicate is a diverse group of world-class Chief Marketing Officers who rapidly solve growth and profit problems for CEOs, VCs, CMOs, and PE firms. As global CMOs from the world’s top companies, The CMO Syndicate is not a traditional marketing consulting agency, and we are not typical marketing or growth consultants. We are growth experts and operators who actually do the work on a part-time or project basis as outsourced fractional and interim CMOs.