How common is senior executive derailment?

By Dr Ann Hutchison

In the business literature, it is a noted problem that senior executives derail with relative frequency. By ‘derail’ I mean they fail to perform in quite a noticeable way and may have to leave their role as a result. Or, they stay in their role and become deemed ‘unsatisfactory performers’.

This is a substantial enough problem that books have been written about it. Check out, for example, ‘Why CEOs Fail’ by David Dotlich and Peter Cairo, or ‘Why Smart Executives Fail’ by Sydney Finkelstein.

In a classic article, Michael Lombardo and colleagues estimated that 50-60% of executives derail once they hit this level¹. This is huge! Other researchers have found the same.

One study showed that 25-75% of newly recruited senior executives do not go on to be perceived as good performers². And well-known psychologist, Robert Hogan, has even estimated that the base rate for flawed leadership sits somewhere between 60 and 75%³.

A failure rate of 60-75% is crazy. What do you, the executive reader, think of that? For my part I can say that I do know Robert Hogan’s work, and I find it trustworthy. He has used a number of leadership studies to come up with that figure.

The derailment phenomenon is perhaps not surprising when we stop and think about just what is being required of senior executives. In a way they have to be a ‘jack of all trades’, in terms of having an enterprise-level view and being a fantastic people leader; and those things don’t always develop quickly in a person. Further, it is such a difficult level to operate at, in terms of the kinds of decisions involved and the complexity of communication required. The rules are different than for those who are functional experts at middle management level.

So, what happens when senior executives do derail? Well, it can play out a number of ways. Senior executive leadership attracts strong personalities, so bullying or toxic (e.g., narcissistic) behaviours can emerge at that level, causing intense relational difficulties. Sometimes executives even end up derailing by being a victim of another executive’s toxicity. Leadership can also quite easily be destructive instead of constructive, if a leader does not have a strong ethic of integrity, or good relationship skills. And finally, the work itself requires a strong, intelligent mind — A mind that thinks creatively and unusually — and if they do not have the capacity for that, they can find they have reached their limit.

The good news in all this is that if you’re a good executive you can shine! But how do you secure and protect your performance at this level? Well, in an upcoming article we’ll look at ‘What is executive performance?’ That is a good first question, and from that some personal survival strategies can flow.

I’ll pause there for now.

Ann

1

Lombardo, M., Ruderman, M. N., & McCauley, C. D. (1988). Explanations of success and derailment in upper-level management positions. Journal of Business and Psychology 2(3), 199-216.

2

Sessa, V. I., & Taylor, J. J. (2000). Executive selection: Strategies for success (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

3

Hogan, R., Raskin, R., & Fazzini, D. (1990). The dark side of charisma. In K. E. Clark & M. B. Clark (Eds.), Measures of leadership (pp. 343-354). West Orange, NJ: Leadership Library of America.