Bill Canady explains why new CEOs trigger staff departures: employees comfortable with the status quo leave, skill gaps emerge as companies grow or pivot, and cultural clashes happen between legacy staff and newcomers. Employees who stay share curiosity, flexibility, and a results-driven mindset. Treat each day as your first to shed past decisions and adapt faster.
One of the questions I get quite often is, why is there so much staff turnover when a new CEO comes in? You know, there can really be a variety of reasons of it. But typically, what has happened when a new CEO comes in, it generally means that the whatever was going on before was not working, and they were looking for a change. Sometimes it's a retirement. Sometimes people move on to bigger and better things. But a lot of times they're looking for a change. And when that happens, a new CEO comes in and that person is charged with turning this company into a better direction, bending the curve to where the business can go be successful. There's nothing more than that CEO wants, and this is speaking from personal experience, than to have the team that is there continue to stay there. It is hard to replace people. It's hard to find good people. And anytime you're gonna go through that, it generally takes more than 6 months. You gotta go find someone. They've gotta leave their current job, come in on yours, and then get up to speed. So it's about a year transition. The thing to think about with that is it's such a huge deal to turn over staff, but it happens all the time. I find it's driven outta 3 reasons. So one is it is a, the existing folks are comfortable where they are. They like what's going on and they aren't ready to change. 2, it could be simply that the company has outgrown some of the skill sets. Maybe the business went through a lot of acquisitions and the skill set that got everyone there is not the same skill set that they need to keep the business running and take on these new challenges. Or 3, sometimes it's just a conflict. The existing folks that, you know, aren't thrilled about either changes with the people who left Or the new folks that came in. Yeah, I'll share a little story with my own experience. You know, typically I have regular one-on-ones with folks, and sometimes, you know, they'll— time has gone by and there's been a lot of change, and they start asking, well, why did I make it and other ones didn't? And I always say the same thing. Well, it came down to 3 things, at least for me. One was this curiosity, this ability to keep learning and being open to where we're at. The second one is this flexibility and, and And toughness, this grit, right? This ability to roll with what comes at you and embrace it and go on. And the third one is you got to go get stuff done. And if we're sitting in a situation where the company is struggling, we need people to hit the ground running. And one of the exercises I tell people all the time is think about this, right? So, think of today as your first day on the job. So, the old you got fired yesterday and left or they quit or whatever. You've got that job and the old you got fired or left the job, whatever the case may be. And you now have the job, but you have a unique situation. The previous person, the previous you left you an amazing binder that has everything in it that's ever happened. And you know everything that's going on, but you have absolutely no responsibility for what's happened. You're just able to take that information and make the best decision that you can. With that, I find if you can do that, it is such a freeing exercise for you. All of a sudden, you have all the knowledge and none of the responsibility how it got there. You can use that and you can go on and do whatever it is that you think is necessary to win without being hung up with the legacy. I've said that to many people through the years and some have embraced it and of course, some did not. And later on, as we're sitting there and we're looking back on it, those who did, So that was probably one of the most helpful things I could have told them is, you know, it was freeing. They didn't have the issue of however the situation developed. They just knew about it. And they were able to look out for that and respond to it and make the correct decisions without owning the legacy of it. So maybe you find yourself in that situation. And if you do, I would strongly encourage you to think about this is your first day on the job, not the fact that you've been here for years. And maybe you had something to do with the situation, maybe you didn't. But nonetheless, today is your first day and you have everything looking forward. Embrace that. It is powerful and allows you and the new team to come together in a meaningful way and go change this business. I think for me and folks who've worked with me have found that to be kind of a powerful step. I hope this helps. I really appreciate it. Hope everyone has a great day.
