In the 1980s and 1990s, a movie running for 200 days in Bollywood or Kollywood was considered a superhit. Audiences gave films time to settle, stories to unfold, characters to grow.
Today? If a movie survives two good weekends, it’s declared a success and is often off the screens soon after.
Leadership, it turns out, is being judged the same way.
At Indian airports, departure boards keep updating - Gate changed. Time changed. Flight delayed.
In boardrooms across the world, the updates look similar: CEO changed. Strategy changed. Priorities changed.
Until a few years ago, becoming a CEO meant years to shape a company, much like a long theatrical run where word of mouth mattered more than opening weekend numbers. In 2025, it often means months to prove you deserve the seat.
What was once a long-haul leadership role is now treated like a short connecting flight — and sometimes like a movie that doesn’t get past its opening fortnight. This shift is quietly redefining what leadership even means.
The average CEO tenure globally has shrunk to a record low of around 6.8 years, a stark contrast to the 9+ years common just half a decade ago.
Retail alone saw nearly 40 CEO exits in the first seven months of 2025, doubling year-on-year.
But here’s the twist.
CEO turnover is rising even among high-performing companies. A report by The Conference Board shows that in the S&P 500, CEO turnover in the top performance quartile jumped from 7% to 12% year-over-year. Boards aren’t just firing underperformance anymore. They’re pre-editing the script, hoping for a faster blockbuster.
What Is Going Wrong?
It’s not merely about results.
• Short-termism over stewardship Boards increasingly expect exponential performance yesterday, not sustainable performance over time — like judging a film purely by Day-1 collections.
• Mismatch of role expectations CEOs are hired as visionaries, but evaluated as quarterly firefighters.
• Pulling in different directions When board vision and CEO execution don’t align, exits happen fast — like a play with too many directors and too few rehearsals.
In Know How, Ram Charan cautions that leaders fail when they reduce decisions to checkboxes, instead of understanding them as stories unfolding within a broader context. In today’s enterprises, decisions travel faster than understanding. When action outpaces alignment, even the right moves can land as the wrong message.
A Better Way: The B.O.A.R.D. Framework for Sustained CEO Success
• B : Big-Picture- Maintain strategic coherence beyond quarterly applause.
• O: Organizational Reading -Decipher culture, politics, powerplay and pulse before you act.
• A : Accountability with Adaptability – Be firm in values, flexible in method.
• R: Relationships- Influence, not just authority.
• D: Data-Driven Direction – Let metrics inform but not fully dictate leadership conversation and priorities.
The New Leadership Rhythm
CEOs today must be Symphony conductors, psychologists, and futurists , not just revving up revenue engines. That is because companies no longer want bosses. They want architects of relevance, resilience, and human commitment.
At Success Pill, we see this up close every day: leadership changes are rarely felt first in the boardroom. They are felt on the floor, in inboxes, and in shifting daily priorities.
#Leadership #CEO #Directors #Boards #BusinessStrategy #ThoughtLeadership #SuccessPill #VenkatKumaresan