Is High Exec Turnover Hurting Retailers?
C-level departures have accelerated in recent years, and while shaking up top management can reduce complacency within an organization and improve performance, it also has downsides.
The exec exits most called out are at the CEO level, a role where turnover just wrapped up its second consecutive record year, according to analysis by Russell Reynolds Associates.
Russell Reynolds attributes the faster pace of CEO changes to continued economic and political volatility, rapid technological change, and pressure from activist investors. The management consulting firm said the shift to shorter CEO tenures shows the CEO role is shifting from the “long-term steward of the organization to a catalyst for transformation. Leadership success is increasingly being defined by a CEO’s ability to drive rapid, visible results, with far greater pressure to deliver immediate impact.”
Russell Reynolds also noted that the shorter tenures may come about as the majority of recent hires have been first-time CEOs. Another reason often cited for high CEO turnover across jobs is burnout.
Similar pressures are being felt for those in other c-level roles. A just-published survey of “current and aspiring c-level professionals” from resume writing firm TopResume showed 38% considered leaving their role in the past 12 months, with half that group thinking about it “very often.” The top motivation for considering leaving their role was a “desire for better work-life balance,” cited by 32%, with “burnout/stress” cited by 25%.
Top Retailers Swapping CEOs in Recent Years
At the retail level, new CEOs hired in 2024 at Macy’s, Nike, Starbucks, VF Corp., Petco, and Under Armour led to extensive changes in other c-level roles — and the pattern continued for many retailers in 2025. CEO departures over the last year occurred at Kohl’s, Kroger, Ulta Beauty, L.L. Bean, Lululemon and The Container Store, with Walmart and Target both seeing new CEOs, effective Feb. 1.
Tagro Solutions, a human resources consultant, in a blog entry said high c-level turnover can strain longstanding client and customer relationships and impact morale as existing employees worry about job security. Tagro also noted that the loss of loss of institutional knowledge that can lead to training gaps and project delays.
A survey from Gartner — of 227 supply chain execs taken in mid-2025 — showed 54% reporting that leadership turnover significantly disrupted their supply chain operations in the past three years.
Researchers from the University of Kansas School of Business found that as rates of top management turnover increase, productivity erodes. James Guthrie, professor of management, University of Kansas, said in a press release that companies often undervalue social connections, industry relationships and organizational knowledge when making c-level changes.
He said, “Certainly you need to change top executives when they’re not performing well or skill sets are obsolete, but I think a lot of firms take this too far. Companies often underestimate the value of employee retention.”