The Great CEO Exodus… Continues

March 25, 2025 – Rank-and-file workers and many top executives have looked at the current job market and decided to stay. But one group isn’t sticking around—and it happens to be the people holding the highest job, according to a new report from Korn Ferry.

According to a recent estimate, some 222 CEOs left their roles in January, the highest number for the month in at least 23 years. This comes after a record 2,221 top bosses—at U.S. public, private, or government organizations—left their posts in 2024, a figure which itself topped the prior record of 1,914 set a year earlier. Some of these leaders are leaving of their own accord; others are being pushed out. “But either way, it’s truly a generational transition of leadership,” said Tierney Remick, Korn Ferry vice chairman and co-leader of its board and CEO services practice.

Breaking Points

And the CEO exodus is likely to continue in 2025, experts say, despite the disruption it causes, according to the Korn Ferry report. “Each of the past five years has had a unique, if not unprecedented, challenge for CEOs—in order, the pandemic, the pandemic recovery, the Great Resignation, inflation, a credit crunch, and now a major change in U.S. government policies,” the study said. “That’s on top of the multitude of other so-called breaking points CEOs are facing, among them a combination of a slow-growth environment, empowered employees, and uncertainty around AI.”

“Disruption is a major cause of CEOs leaving, and then the CEO actually leaving is adding to that disruption,” said Andrés Tapia, a Korn Ferry senior client partner and diversity and inclusion strategist. “So it becomes a cycle of reinforcing disruption.”

For her part, Jane Edison Stevenson, global vice chair and global leader of the board and CEO succession business at Korn Ferry, says that CEOs, as recently as a few years ago, could follow a playbook that no longer exists. “It was never easy, but the job is a lot harder now,” she said.

Unveiling the CEO’s Ultimate Role: Why Ensuring the Right Leader is Key to Organizational Success

Many have debated the single most important role of a CEO, often focusing on strategy, culture, vision, and shareholder value. Nobody could so precisely synthesize the unending responsibilities of a CEO into a single most important role. However, Price Harding and CarterBaldwin believes there is one … Mr. Harding explains that a simple search of the internet indicates that this is not the first time someone has attempted to crystalize the most important role(s) of a CEO. “Most identify groups of three to six,” he says. “A few have identified a single most important role, but even these conflict with one another. Had any leadership writers reached the general conclusion this article will present, I would not be writing. I do believe that there is a single most important role. I believe it can be identified and that there is significant lift in running an organization around this central idea.”

Before CarterBaldwin names it, consider what others have proffered as the most important role(s): “Some reasonably assert that the CEO’s primary focus should revolve around developing and championing the organization’s strategy,” Mr. Harding says. “Strategy is a key differentiator and can disrupt markets, focus investments and teams and fuel success. Strategy sat atop the CEO platform of responsibilities until famed management guru Peter Drucker famously quipped ‘Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast.’ Quickly many other thought leaders jumped on the bandwagon, identifying culture as the primary critical role of a CEO.”

“Many chief executives are getting heat from the boardroom as well,” said Joe Griesedieck, vice chairman and managing director in Korn Ferry’s board and CEO services practice. “Directors, themselves under pressure from a surge in activist investors, are showing less patience with CEOs who aren’t delivering positive results.” Indeed, at one point in 2024, nearly 40 percent of CEOs who left were forced out, according to a separate Korn Ferry report. “This pressure will continue,” Mr. Griesedieck said.

Vacuuming Up Leaders

The reality of demographics—many public-company CEOs are at or near retirement age—makes experts worry that the departures will continue, the Korn Ferry report noted. Indeed, 28 percent of January’s CEO departures were retirements. “And these days, stepping down doesn’t necessarily mean ending a career: A former chief executive can pivot to being a full-time board director or an investment advisor for private-equity firms—roles that are interesting, but often less stressful,” Ms. Remick said. “The emotional and physical drain, combined with the strategic challenges, has created a moment in time that they’re taking advantage of.”

Related: The Skills That Help CEOs Make the Right Choices

The surge in CEOs leaving contrasts starkly with the prevailing sense that the employment market is stagnant, the Korn Ferry report explained. The rate of employee separations—the percentage of people who quit, get fired, or otherwise leave their job each month—fell from 4.2 percent in January 2023 to 3.3 percent this past January, according to the most recent U.S. government statistics. In particular, the number of people quitting has dropped to its lowest level in nearly a decade, according to the Korn Ferry report.

“When a CEO quits, it’s almost always a shock to the system,” said Alan Guarino, vice chairman in Korn Ferry’s board and CEO services practice. “All types of dynamics surface calling the success of the company’s future into question.” As a result, experts say that firms need to make a special effort to develop promising talent. “These days, that may mean identifying potential successors who are currently working two or even three layers below the CEO job,” Ms. Remick said. “Meanwhile, private firms are vacuuming up leaders from public organizations, so there’s no guarantee that any one particular executive will be around—or ready—should the CEO position open up.”

But it’s not just the sheer number of CEOs being forced out that is intriguing experts; it’s the various strategies boards have used to hire the next boss. “Some firms have—without the existing CEO’s knowledge—searched and lined up an outsider to take over,” said Mr. Griesedieck. “This isn’t a common tactic, though, because many boards don’t maintain a list of external prospects. Boards should always be prepared for an unexpected CEO transition.

Related: A Look at How the CEO Role is Evolving 

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media