Why Do Boards Keep Underperforming CEOs?

This post originally appeared on Forbes on November 2024, 2025

Across global markets, the average tenure of CEOs is shrinking. Russell Reynolds Associates’ CEO Turnover Index shows that the window for chief executives to prove themselves is narrowing. “In 2023, CEOs who departed their role had been in seat for 8.4 years. However, we’re now at the stage where outgoing CEOs have been in their role for 7.2 years, and that tenure continues to go down,” says Laura Sanderson, who oversees Russell Reynolds’ Board & CEO Advisory Partners team throughout Europe.

That decline isn’t just a statistic. It could signal a fundamental shift in how boards evaluate leadership, how long they’re willing to remain patient with a CEO’s performance, and what skills CEOs must have to survive in a volatile era.

When — and why — do CEOs get replaced?

At the simplest level, CEO tenure comes down to performance. If the company isn’t delivering against expectations, then the board faces pressure to act. Yet, Sanderson notes that the relationship between performance and turnover isn’t as linear as one might think. While some CEOs leave in quick order for non-performance, others manage to hold on to their jobs for longer than expected. “There’s an interesting question around how patient boards are willing to be. There’s also an interesting question around how that level of patience changes depending on where the CEO is in their tenure,” says Sanderson.

Read the rest on Forbes.