Why is the CXO leaving?

Most of us are naturally curious on the “why” of it whenever a CXO resigns.

The answers can be found by observing notice period completions and successor transitions. “It’s been a great learning journey and I am proud to have worked here for the last decade,” said a CXO after announcing his recent exit.

“We are grateful for his contribution in taking our firm to the next orbit of growth,” responded the company spokesperson. But, listen to the next line from the employer. “We are looking for a successor and have retained a search firm”. Isn’t that strange?

Why is the CXO leaving the company he loved without waiting for his replacement? And why is the employer allowing its key leader to leave without finding a successor? If you are in a senior role for a long time there are bound to be differences arising from time to time leading to exits. Can both parties keep their egos aside for a few more months and really play out the external happy story internally as well?

Twice in my life, I have walked into Country Head roles as an external replacement as those organizations never planned for succession. I can tell it was painful to take over and took longer to turn them around as the lack of understanding of internal dynamics hurt my transition pace.