LPast performance is no guarantee of future performance. This warning, intended to accompany the marketing of stock market investments, should be displayed in all company boardrooms.
Resignation, Sunday 1is December, from Carlos Tavares, the general director of Stellantis, under pressure from his board of directors, reminds us that the successes of a boss do not constitute a guarantee of good fortune over time. In certain respects, it is sometimes appropriate to be wary because yesterday's cost reductions can cause tomorrow's innovation delays, a sign of very short-term management.
“A leader who is too successful is a leader in danger because he stops adaptingeven professes the psychiatrist Eric Albert, founder of the Uside coaching firm, especially if he succeeds too quickly, too young, this reinforces the idea that what he has accomplished must be reproduced. » A message to meditate on for all leaders, including politicians…
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A transplant that goes badly, missteps, wear and tear of power, the bosses are neither infallible nor untouchable. And their exit can be brutal. “The time has come for a change”simply explained Paul Bulcke, the president of Swiss Nestlé, commenting on the surprise ouster, on August 22, of general manager Ulf Mark Schneider, at the head of the world number one agri-food company since 2017.
Increased pressure from “boards”
The start of the 2024 school year brought its share of significant falls. On September 12, it was Gilles Grapinet, the general manager of the payments giant Worldline since 2013, who arrived, after twelve months of trying to turn things around. Two months later, at the beginning of November, the board of directors of Schneider Electric announced that they were separating, due to « divergences »by Peter Herweck, inducted in May 2023 into the general management of the French flagship. Monday, December 2, it was the emblematic boss of the American Intel, Pat Gelsinger, who announced his retirement “immediate” of the king of microprocessors in great difficulty.
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This waltz illustrates the increased pressure of boards on managers, especially when the functions of president and general manager are separated. Even if this essential role of counter-power is not always fully exercised. We remember how Renault's board waited until the all-powerful Carlos Ghosn was imprisoned in Japan to take the wheel away from him in 2019. And what about Kering? With a stock market price that has erased more than two-thirds of its value in three years, when its great rival LVMH lost only 12% at the same time, the CEO would not have lasted long if he had not called François-Henri Pinault. A controlling family shareholder represents the ultimate luxury for a boss, if he is a member of the clan, but here, it is the Sunday chicken that is toast.
