CEO Exits… Enter Trouble

Since the financial crisis, the corner office of many financial institutions has become a highly visible revolving door, with consequences impacting more than just the careers of one-time CEOs. With this backdrop, the FCS today staged a Tuesday Breakfast Club presentation and panel discussion on “Communicating Critical Events: CEO Transitions and Risk to Enterprise Value.” FTI Consulting served as the presenting sponsor, with Bryan Armstrong, Managing Director of its Strategic Communications practice, introducing compelling research about the connections between CEOs and corporate financial performance.

Armstrong pointed out that “public company CEOs in North America face particularly strong pressure from Wall Street, which has resulted in higher than average CEO turnover.” FTI’s research shows that 43% of CEO transitions are unplanned, due to either resignations or special situations, which includes fraud, strategic transformation, death or health issues, bankruptcy/restructuring, and miscellaneous crisis (e.g., scandals). Noting that one of the main roles of a public company’s CEO is to communicate strategic objectives and performance results to the investor community, Armstrong explained that 32% of investment decisions are based on the perception of a CEO – underscoring the importance of that CEO’s reputation.

How to protect and promote a CEO's reputation became the topic of the panel discussion that followed the research presentation. Moderated by The Wall Street Journal’s Francesco Guerrera (currentaccount@wsj.com), editor of “Money & Investing,” the panel addressed the concerns of succession planning, employee and external communications, media exposure, and the role of the Board of Directors.

Here are some highlights of the panelists’ observations:

Elizabeth Saunders, Chairman, Strategic Communications, FTI Consulting:

• The Street [Wall Street buy-side analysts] wants more exposure to more executives, deeper in the organization, knowing that they represent potential successors. “But with more exposure, there’s more risk.”
• It’s the communications professional’s job “to know the new CEO’s background very deeply.”
• Another key function for the communication professional is “to assess the most dangerous audience” and prepare specifically for that stakeholder group.
• Dealing with an unplanned transition is “where internal communications professionals earn their stripes.”

Jeanne Branthover, Managing Director, Boyden Global Executive Search

• “Succession must be planned at every level of management, from bottom to top.”
• Communications about succession “must be early and always transparent.”
• “We’re seeing CEO run-off competition more and more.” The practice of pitting two or three internal candidates for the CEO job “can be very healthy and positive for the company.” The candidates want to do their best, so productivity improves. Plus “a run-off attracts news attention,” with everyone now watching for the better candidate to win.

Matt Hickerson, Managing Director, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing, Macquarie Group, Americas

• Two of the biggest challenges facing an internal communications team are timing and messaging: “they’re usually brought in very late” [when there’s been an unplanned CEO transition], and “there are often competing loyalties among the departing CEO, the new CEO or even several internal candidates.”

The panelists also handled questions from the audience, that touched on the consequences of other C-suite executive departures (e.g, CFOs, Division Chairmen), how Board Directors react when their own reputations are threatened during CEO transitions, and how best to orchestrate a communications plan across in-house and external professionals.

Guerrera cited several cases of recent CEO transitions at financial companies that were not handled well, resulting in damaged reputations for the firms, as well as the incoming and outgoing CEOs. Each panelist also offered real-life examples of CEO transitions that offered undeniable lessons for communications professionals, working for both internal corporate teams and PR agencies.

For more information on the research presented by FTI Consulting, please visit: http://www.ceotransitionstudy.com/.