Gap's CEO gets terminated — this could become the worst year on record for CEOs
Your go-to '90s fleece sweatshirt... featured "G-A-P" in 86-sized font across the chest. Today, Gap is a struggling retailer, often stuck slapping "40% off everything" everywhere. And ex-CEO Art Peck just "stepped down" on Thursday (that usually means he was fired). Even the planned spinoff of its more profitable Old Navy brand is now in question.
Chief Exit Officers... McDonald's, Under Armour, Nike, and WeWork all lost their leaders last month. 2008 previously set the record for most CEO departures (blame a financial crisis that hit 8.2 on the Richter scale). This year’s ousted execs were driven out by profit worries, retirement, and (for some) personal misconduct — at record rates:
- The worst month: 172 CEOs either voluntarily resigned or were escorted out by security with cardboard boxes — that's a record for a single month.
- The (close to) worst year: 2019 is on pace to beat 2008 for most CEO departures.
Now Hiring: A new breed of CEO... In the past, execs had 1 job: make as much profit as possible. Outsource jobs, pollute the environment, instill a hostile work culture — all good, as long as you cranked out profits. But society and markets have changed so much that the "Purpose of a Corporation" was actually redefined by the Business Roundtable. Here's the new day-to-day of a modern CEO:
- Be a spokesperson for young and woke employees.
- Define the values, mission, and social promise of the company.
- And (of course) you better make profits.