The business landscape is changing at an unprecedented pace, and with that comes a significant increase in executive turnover, even at the very top with CEOs. It’s not just a feeling; there’s a recognized CEO shortage across many industries, and it’s projected to impact all industries soon. Why? The immense pressure and burnout leaders face often make their roles feel like an “unwinnable game.”
On this episode of the Life + Leadership podcast we dive into the challenging truth behind this executive exodus. But more importantly, we explore how executives and organizations can proactively prevent this common problem with focused, strategic approaches that address executive turnover.
The Ripple Effect: 3 Ways Executive Turnover Disrupt Organizations
Imagine the relentless demands on today’s senior executives: boards and investors pressing down, internal workforces seeking reassurance amidst economic uncertainty and potential layoffs, plus a myriad of social and political topics they are expected to address. It’s an incredibly taxing environment. This often isn’t attractive for professionals in their 40s and 50s, who are also navigating personal responsibilities like aging parents and raising children.
Many executives are now choosing to leave organizations in pursuit of greater work-life balance. They’re opting for roles as independent consultants or even starting their own businesses, deciding that “golden handcuffs and bonuses” are no longer worth the personal cost of lost family time, declining health, and anxiety. While this fuels entrepreneurship, it also creates a significant crisis for organizations. Senior leader exits are highly disruptive to both operations and financials.
When an executive departs, the ripple effects are significant and immediate, often starting within the executive team itself. What are the results of executive turnover?
- Increased Workload for Remaining Leaders: Often, the responsibilities of the departing executive are inherited by existing leaders who are already operating at full capacity. We can’t expect them to take on this newly acquired workload with ease; at best, they can keep the work afloat by relying heavily on their own teams.
- Lack of Succession Planning: It’s surprisingly uncommon for organizations to have thorough and consistent talent mapping and planning. This means there’s rarely a clear “number two” who has been groomed and is ready to step into an interim, let alone permanent, role. This lack of proactive investment in talent development exacerbates the disruption.
- Declining Morale and Burnout: An executive exodus often leaves existing leaders feeling like they’ve lost their “game.” They may feel unseen, unheard, and adrift, becoming nervous about hitting goals and securing bonuses. This can lead to increased finger-pointing and a significant amount of distraction through gossip about the reasons for the departure and who might take over the role. These conditions can quickly lead teams toward burnout. Even if a role is filled quickly, it takes a new executive at least three to six months to make meaningful contributions and truly grasp the complexities of their role.
Fortunately, there are several strategies to mitigate the negative effects of executive turnover. Utilizing the strategies below can help set new executives and their teams up for long-term success.
How Can You Empower Remaining Leaders Through Transition?
To mitigate the negative impacts of executive turnover, it is crucial to empower the leaders who previously reported to that executive. This period can actually be a profound development opportunity for them.
- Proactive Business Reviews: Leaders who were direct reports should prepare a comprehensive business review for the interim leader. This review should include slides, data, marching orders, functional aspirations, progress on goals, and what support they need to succeed during the interim period. Providing this information proactively can act like “soothing water for somebody who’s on fire,” allowing the interim executive to quickly understand the situation and empowering the functional leader to tell their own team that the situation is managed, maintaining focus on business as usual.
- Calling Leaders Forward: CEOs and interim executives should actively call these next-level leaders “up and forward,” framing this period as a significant development opportunity. Asking them to think like an executive and own their function in a new way, even temporarily, is invaluable for their growth.
How to Strategically Onboard New Executives and Mitigate Executive Turnover
For new executives joining an organization, the onboarding period is critical for setting the tone for their tenure and establishing credibility. There are many vital strategies that help onboarding leaders feel comfortable, prepared, and capable of getting into the work quickly.
- Stakeholder Mapping and Goal Alignment: The first step for a new executive is to map their stakeholders with their CEO to gain a clear understanding of the organizational landscape, including key players, customers, and overarching goals.
- Balanced Onboarding Focus: A new executive’s first 90 days should be split equally between two key areas:
- 50% Focus on Company Artifacts: Dive into all available “paper” or digital data, such as board decks, meeting minutes, executive team agendas, past and current goals, performance reports, financials, and organizational charts (not just for their team but for cross-functional partners). This provides a one-dimensional understanding of the company’s history and performance.
- 50% Focus on Relationships: Dedicate significant time to relational aspects. Schedule one-on-one meetings with peers and direct reports, visit key clients if applicable, and share personal details about family and hobbies to build rapport. This human component is essential for getting anything done, as relationships are paramount.
- Setting Boundaries from Day One: A critical, often overlooked, aspect for new executives is to establish expectations and standards for their availability from day one. Entering a new role with high energy can lead to being available 24/7, which becomes unsustainable. It is much harder to walk back expectations of constant availability after six months than it is to set healthy boundaries from the beginning. Modeling work-life balance and discipline from the outset helps prevent burnout across the organization and encourages similar behavior in their teams.
How Executive Coaching Empowers Leaders Through Transition
Executive coaches play a vital role in navigating executive transitions, both for leaders stepping into new roles and for teams experiencing turnover. Coaches can bridge the gap between new and existing staff, while also providing a trusted sounding board for new leaders.
- Onboarding Support: Coaches can elevate a seasoned executive’s approach to stakeholder mapping, communication planning, and articulating a new vision. They encourage new executives to act as objective consultants in their first three months, maximizing their initial contributions and creating early wins without requiring immediate major changes.
- Conflict Resolution and Team Alignment: When conflict arises within leadership teams due to departures or differing views, coaches can step in as a trusted third party. They identify root causes, facilitate open communication, and help executives develop actionable plans for conflict resolution, focusing on shared goals and building mutual respect. This helps transform unmanaged, unhealthy conflict—which leads to communication breakdowns, undermining behavior, worsened team dynamics, stalled innovation, and toxic work environments—into healthy, productive debate that drives growth.
- Deeper Relationships: Coaches also help executives build stronger relationships proactively through regular communication, shared experiences, assessments (like DISC or Hogan) to understand styles and triggers, and a commitment to continuous professional growth. They can foster traits like mutual respect, effective communication, commitment to shared goals, support, collaboration, personal connection, consistency, and recognition.
Ultimately, how leadership team members treat each other and manage conflict sends a strong message about the organization’s desired culture. By intentionally managing executive turnover and fostering strong leadership relationships, organizations can maintain momentum, prevent burnout, and drive better business outcomes. For more insights, including how CHROs and CEOs can strategically partner to identify specific drivers of executive dissatisfaction, develop clear retention criteria, and implement targeted, multi-channel retention efforts beyond just compensation, explore this HBR article on mitigating executive turnover.
Learn how Bright Arrow Coaching’s executive coaching services can help your leaders and teams navigate complex transitions and unlock their full potential.
In this Episode:
Tegan Trovato, Founder and CEO of Bright Arrow Coaching:
Bright Arrow Bio
LinkedIn Profile
Podcast Transcript:
Today, I’m talking about something that’s hitting executive teams hard right now, turnover at the top. We’re seeing more CEOs and senior leaders step away from their roles and it is not just a blip, it is a trend.
Why So Many Executives Are Leaving
I want to unpack what’s behind the mass executive exits, what happens inside of organizations when someone at the top leaves, and how we can better support the leaders who are left behind. I also share guidance for new executives stepping into those roles, including how to onboard with clarity, set sustainable boundaries, and avoid early burnout. Let’s get started.
So we’ve seen substantial increase in executive turnover between last year and this year, and that actually starts at the top with the CEOs. So the Wall Street Journal put out a great article in April of 2025, why more CEOs are heading for the exit, and this isn’t news to me. We’ve actually been tracking this data for quite some time that there’s a CEO shortage in a lot of industries.
We know that we’re headed for a CEO shortage across all industries, so more broadly as a skill set. We know that CEOs in the current economic environment are burning out because it is not a winnable game, and everyone looks to the CEO to make it winnable, and it’s just not. They’re facing conditions they have no control over.
So you have your board and your investors who are pressing down on the CEO, and then you’ve got the business who’s like, are you gonna take care of us in this downed economy? Are you gonna lay us off? What’s going on?
And then a whole myriad of social and political topics they expect a CEO to respond to now as well. That’s not a recipe that’s attractive for most folks in their 40s and 50s at this point who also have aging parents and children to raise. So this is an interesting time we’re in.
So if the CEOs are feeling that way, certainly the C-suite more broadly is unhappy, and they are often turning over for really similar reasons. This is anecdotal from me, so this part, I wish I corroborated this with a little bit more data outside of our firm, but what I am seeing is that a lot of executives are exiting organizations in an effort to create more work-life balance. They have officially decided that the golden handcuffs and bonuses are not worth the time they are losing with their family, their decline in their health, their lack of sleep from just sheer work and also anxiety.
They are deciding instead to become independent consultants or start their own businesses. And as an entrepreneur, I’m like, yay, we need more of us out there. But as someone who serves the C-suite and cares deeply about them and the work that is upon them, this is a crisis.
The Ripple Effects of an Executive Exit
It’s an emergency. And when we have executives exit, it is a highly, highly disruptive experience for the organization. Frankly, it is highly disruptive for the financials.
Like, for example, we saw some leaders from Salesforce leave not too long ago, executives, and there was a lot of shareholder concern about the faith and what would transpire temporarily, and it impacted stocks overnight. So it’s a big deal at all levels when a senior leader exits an organization, no matter its size. The dynamics that tend to occur when an executive has exited an organization start in the executive team itself, who’s going to take the work or oversee that executives who’s exiting their body of work.
There is sometimes a good amount of runway with an executive who’s leaving on good terms, depending on their industry and competitive situation. They may have a couple of months that they give to the organization in their transition. I would say that is not always the case or not even frequently the case anymore.
There are more traditional 30 days or less exit terms for executives is what I’ve been seeing lately. So for those who are inheriting the work of the person who’s leaving, they’re already stretched. They’re already working at full capacity.
So I think we should have low expectations of their contribution and overseeing a whole other part of the company. We can accept, I think if we’re all real with ourselves, that at best, the executive who’s receiving that work keeps it afloat, and really has to rely on the leaders within the team to carry on the work. But here are some other dynamics I often see.
It is very unusual that an organization has done thorough and consistent talent mapping and planning within all of their teams and across all of their verticals. So when an executive exits, it is unusual that there is a clear number two who has been groomed and is ready, potentially, or closer to ready, to at least take over the work in the interim. Maybe not permanently, but to at least even keep things afloat and for there to be a singular owner that’s been groomed inside of the team is highly unusual.
Part of that is that we need to invest more in our talent mapping and talent development more proactively, and ideally grow two or three number twos within a team. But that’s unusual that we’ve had the privilege, the luxury, the time, the money to do it. And so when an executive leaves, all that work ends up getting pressed down to everyone, if as much as possible.
And so what we end up experiencing often on those teams is that the leaders who are left behind end up feeling like they no longer have a winnable game. So the executive who’s taken over is doing their best to try to get their arms around what’s going on. They’ve automatically inherited dozens, sometimes hundreds, of new reports.
Interim leaders and burnouts
Certainly, they could have up to 10 or 20 more direct reports overnight. So they’re trying their best to, number one, understand what the work is, two, understand who the key players are, three, understand how they keep the work going and remove obstacles for the team. And certainly, understandably, may not make a ton of investment in the team or the leaders on that team because it is an interim thing.
So they may not be having great one-on-ones with the leaders who are left behind. And then there becomes a finger pointing when team members get uncomfortable about, is the work getting done? Is it not?
And the new executive who’s overseeing this temporarily has no clue what the truth is. They don’t know the history of whatever drama there may be or conflicts on the team. So it’s messy, to say the least.
And so you’ve got talent who may have been rising that’s all of a sudden feeling like they don’t have a winnable game. They often feel unseen, unheard, adrift. People start to get nervous that we’re not going to hit goal, get our bonuses.
And then there’s a ton of gossip about the gap. So even when it’s communicated well, that the executive left for particular reasons, there’s still a lot of distraction on the team about the storytelling and the reasons and what it means and who might take over their role. And so in addition to the ambiguity, there is a lot of distraction as well during that time.
So a lot of the conditions I just described can leave a team trending towards burnout. So just take a moment and just think back to what we just talked about. This is all catalyzed by a single gap in the executive team.
You have one executive exit. That is the level of ripple effect we’re talking about. We now potentially have multiple teams who would trend towards burnout if that role isn’t filled really quickly.
And even if the role is filled quickly, you need to give that exec three to six months to be making meaningful contribution, minimal three months to have their arms around things, you know, lightly have their arms around things depending on how sophisticated the functions are. So here’s what I recommend is that we really empower the leaders who used to report to that executive to step up and to formally call them forward during this time. And if you’re one of the leaders who’s listening who is left behind, your executive has left, here’s what I recommend.
Do a business review for the interim leader. You will need to do a business review for the backfill eventually anyway. Put together some slides, data, anything that would help the person who’s in charge on an interim basis understand what your marching orders have been, what it is you are aspiring to deliver for your function, and where you are in delivery of those goals.
And what do you need from them in order to be successful while they cover the role temporarily? If each functional leader for that executive handed them that, we’d all have a better time. But here’s again the disconnect.
We probably have not raised the leaders reporting to that executive to think that way. So this could be a new exercise for the first time. Frankly, the first time I did it, no one taught me either.
You know, this is just us trying to be resourceful as leaders. I would challenge you to really think about what does it look like for me to help bridge the gap while our executive seat is open? What do I need this leader to know for now so that I can keep my own team functioning and humming and not get distracted?
And then think about if you’re that leader providing that to the interim executive that you can then go back and tell your own team members that you’ve provided that. That’s like a soothing water for somebody who’s on fire, right? To be able to say, hey, I’ve got this.
I proactively have communicated. Keep going. Business as usual.
Stay focused. But we cannot expect an interim executive to do that across multiple functions quickly enough. We really have to expect our next level of leaders to provide that.
So if you’re the CEO or if you’re the interim executive, I would encourage you to call these next level of leaders up and forward and ask them to create these business reviews for you within just a matter of a couple of days. Shouldn’t take too long. And really just start to get to know each other so that the interim chapter together is progressive.
And frankly, remember that calling them forward is their development. You are giving them a ton of growth by asking them to think like an executive for a little while and to really own their function in a way they maybe haven’t to date. So it’s a beautiful opportunity if we can reframe it as such.
And it is a temporary increase in work to create a business review and to bring somebody up to speed. But we want them thinking that way before the next executive is hired as the formal backfill anyway. Let’s say we’ve gotten through this chapter of the executive departing.
The team members have pulled together. Now the new executive has started. The formal hire has been made.
How to be successful in your new Executive role
Here is what I’d recommend for that executive who’s new to the team. Map your stakeholders with a partner who should ideally be your CEO to really understand the lay of the land. Who the key players are.
Who the key customers are. What the goals are. I always encourage execs to view their onboarding for their first 90 days as 50% focused on team artifacts and company artifacts.
And for me that includes things like board decks, meeting minutes from board meetings, executive team agendas, previous year’s goals, performance to those previous year’s goals, current goals, performance to date to those goals, all the financials, all the org charts you can get your hands on not just for your team but for your cross-functional partners teams to understand how the business connects and where the interdependencies are. So 50% of your time is spent on not paper anymore but digital data, digital reports. The other 50% is relational.
So with that stakeholder map the main thing you should be doing on day one is getting on everybody’s calendars, one-on-ones with your peers, going out to visit key clients if you’re a client facing, one-on-ones with your direct reports, understanding what’s important to them and their functions and to them personally, looking at their performance reviews privately so you get to understand them that way as well, and then sharing a bit about yourself to be a human with everyone. Like tell them about your family and your hobbies and that kind of thing.
And then there’s a third piece here that I think is hugely important that I harp on for all of the execs I coach privately and that is that when you join as an executive on a team you are setting the expectations and standards for your availability. And when we join a new organization we are coming in hot, we’re fired up, we’re excited, we have all these hopes and dreams about what this role is going to be and the impacts we’re going to have and the value we’re going to create and so we have this energy that we want to contribute. And what I often watch is that executives are then available 24-7, they’re willing to do some weekend work, but then six months in they’re like this is unsustainable and I have set expectations that I’m available after 7 and 8 p.m. five nights a week and that people can call me on a Saturday if they’re working on something or have a question. And it is hard to walk that back. Your job change is the opportunity to demonstrate from day one that, huh, you know, we never hear from Tegan after 6 p.m. Huh, Tegan replies to emails on Monday morning when she’s drinking her coffee, not on Sunday when I sent it. You get to make the change then.
But can you imagine if you’ve already started in your six months in, all of a sudden not replying to emails after 6 or all of a sudden not being available on weekends to your CEO? It’s hard to walk that back. That would raise alarms.
Whereas if you came in with your own boundaries in place, healthy boundaries, and learning over time where you’re happy to make exceptions to those boundaries, that’s also important, that’s the way to do it. And I think if we aren’t conscientious of that as a newly joining exec, we totally miss the window on that and we never get back out of it. And I’ve seen it time and time again.
And frankly, it’s also a new behavior for a lot of execs to even try to exert boundaries. But most of us are in our 40s and 50s, and we really do have pressing life events and children who need our attention. And so it’s time to relearn those boundaries and to model that for the people who work for us.
No more do as I say, not as I do behaviors when it comes to work-life balance and boundaries or work-life integration, whatever your language preference is there. We really have to show people what it looks like. And it does take some discipline.
I can relate. I’ve seen some juicy stuff come in over the weekend sometimes where I’m like, oh, I really want to reply, but I really know I cannot and I should not and I shouldn’t interrupt my own sacred time to do it when it would be false urgency to think I was needed in that moment. So I’m calling you up, execs, as you make job changes, it’s time to try to do it differently and to show our teams how we can do it so that we do prevent burnout across the organization.
So we’ve covered a lot of ground today. You know, I think if I wanted our listeners to remember a couple of things, it is that when an executive leaves an organization, the ripple effects are so substantial. And the longer we’re in the executive team or the longer we’re a CEO, the less visibility we have to the amount of disruption that the organization experiences with an executive leave.
So I’m here to remind you of that today. It’s substantial and it’s natural. But I think we forget to manage far enough into the business how that disruption is experienced.
So hopefully that’s a big takeaway for you today. The other is that when you join the organization as a new executive, you’re 50 percent learning about who the company is in a one dimensional way. You know, who are they on paper?
How have they performed on paper? People’s performance reviews. The other 50 percent needs to be heavily focused on the human component and relationship building, because you will get nothing done, as you know, if the relationships aren’t there and you don’t have a lot of time to get to know folks.
It’s really in those early days where you’re given the grace and the space, if at all, it will happen in those early days. So you should seize that and really make sure you’re building rapport as fast as possible. And then think about an executive coach and how they help you through that.
Obviously, I’d be remiss not to mention, you know, as a firm owner that a lot of times we’re called to help executives on board because the first six months are so crucial. And so we often will elevate even a seasoned executive’s approach to mapping stakeholders, really coming up with communication plans and strategies, setting real time bound plans for themselves in terms of how they will get to a new vision, when they will articulate that vision. And we encourage them to act as a consultant in those first three months.
And I think it’s easy to forget that as an exec when you’re first joining an organization, that your greatest value is your objectivity, which you will quickly lose the longer you’re there. So your executive coach can be in your corner to help you really think about how you can provide feedback to the organization, and it’s particularly to the CEO, as a fresh set of eyes and provide quick and immediate value that people who work inside of an organization can no longer see for themselves and that you will eventually not see anymore either. So a coach can really help you maximize your contributions and create early wins that aren’t required that you make changes yet in order to create wins in the organization.
So that outside thought partner who can really help you navigate and be strategic in those first few months is super advantageous, and a lot of organizations are automatically giving that to their execs as they join.
Final thoughts
So we’ve covered a lot today, from the ripple effects of a single executive departure to how incoming leaders can set themselves up for success. I want to leave you with this.
These transitions are more disruptive than we often realize, and they’re also more manageable when we plan intentionally. Whether you’re staying, stepping up, or stepping in, there are real opportunities to lead with stability. And if you’re navigating one of these chapters, don’t forget, you don’t have to go it alone.
Sometimes having a thought partner like an executive coach can make all the difference in those early days. So with that, I hope we’ve expanded your mind about what could be possible with executive coaching. I would always love to hear back from you.
If you have challenges to this information, if you have more questions about how to find a great coach. Otherwise, keep doing your great work out there, and we’ll see you in the next episode.
