It’s Monday, a new week, a new slate, and another opportunity to lead with clarity.

CEOs In The News is a weekly intelligence briefing for senior leaders, boards, and those shaping the future of business. Each edition curates the most important executive moves, corporate shifts, and leadership trends — with clear insights on why they matter.

Our mission is simple: deliver clarity, signal, and strategic perspective in minutes — so you start the week one step ahead of the boardroom narrative.

The boardroom revolving door is spinning with purpose. This week saw a clear divergence between boards executing deliberate, long-term succession plans and those forced into reactive, crisis-driven changes.

Walmart provided a masterclass in the former, announcing that CEO Doug McMillon will retire on January 31, 2026, to be succeeded by Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner. The multi-year transition, with McMillon staying on as an advisor, signals stability and strategic continuity. In contrast, CarMax terminated CEO Bill Nash after nine years, triggering a 24% stock plunge to a 15-year low. The move, a direct response to a 6% sales decline and failure to compete with digital-native rivals, underscores the market’s brutal punishment for strategic inertia [1, 6].

Other key moves underscore the dominant trends:

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Two forces are driving the current C-suite volatility: the strategic imperative of long-term succession planning and the immediate pressure from activist investors. Global CEO turnover remains near record highs, with an average tenure for outgoing CEOs shrinking to 7.2 years, down from a peak of 8.4 years [1]. Boards are acting with greater urgency.

This urgency is fueled by a surge in activist campaigns, which are up 19% globally versus the long-term average. Investors are no longer waiting for boards to act on underperformance. The result is a market that rewards foresight and punishes delay. Walmart’s seamless transition plan for McMillon to Furner is a prime example of the former, insulating the company from the kind of shock that erased billions in market value at CarMax overnight.

A striking 88% of CEOs appointed globally in 2025 are leading a public company for the first time, up from 85% in 2024 [1]. This is not a marginal shift; it is a fundamental change in how boards define leadership. In an era of constant disruption, boards are betting on adaptability over experience, potential over polish.

This trend is particularly pronounced in the FTSE 100 (100% first-time CEOs) and the Nikkei 225 (97%). It stands in stark contrast to historical precedents like IBM’s 1993 hiring of outsider Lou Gerstner to save the company—a bet on a seasoned executive to fix a broken culture [7]. Today, boards are more inclined to trust their internal pipelines, believing that deep company knowledge combined with a fresh perspective is the key to navigating complexity.

Why should a CEO care? This trend has two profound implications. First, building a deep internal leadership pipeline is no longer a “nice-to-have”; it is a primary strategic asset. Second, for aspiring leaders, demonstrating agility and the capacity to lead through complexity is now more valuable than a traditional, linear career path. The data shows that boards are willing to bet on the leader who can build the future, not just manage the present.

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The shift toward preemptive CEO changes also reflects the evolution of stakeholder communication requirements in the current business environment. Modern boards must manage relationships with institutional investors, activist shareholders, employees, customers, and regulatory bodies that have different information needs and reaction patterns. Poor earnings combined with leadership uncertainty creates communication challenges that can persist for quarters, affecting everything from employee retention to customer confidence.

By separating leadership transitions from earnings announcements, boards can control the narrative around both events more effectively. Leadership changes can be positioned as proactive strategic decisions rather than reactive responses to poor performance. Earnings announcements can focus on operational results and forward guidance rather than being overshadowed by leadership uncertainty.

This approach requires boards to develop more sophisticated succession planning capabilities and performance monitoring systems. Rather than waiting for annual reviews or obvious performance failures, boards must continuously assess CEO effectiveness and maintain readiness for leadership transitions. This represents a significant evolution in board governance practices and time allocation.

The termination of CarMax CEO Bill Nash is a cautionary tale about the perils of strategic stagnation. After a 30-year career with the company, including nine as CEO, Nash was ousted by a board that had lost patience with declining performance and the company’s failure to compete with digital-first rivals like Carvana [6].

The market’s judgment was swift and brutal: a 24% stock plunge to a 15-year low. The board’s decision to approve a $14.8 million severance package while simultaneously removing Nash underscores the high cost of waiting too long to act.

Why should a CEO care? Nash’s ousting demonstrates that deep institutional knowledge is worthless without strategic adaptation. The board’s move is a clear signal that even respected, long-serving CEOs will be held accountable for failing to navigate market disruption.

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The primary risk on the watchlist is the insularity trap. While internal promotions are dominant (72% globally), they can breed a lack of external perspective. The S&P 500 is a key indicator to watch, as its rate of internal succession has dropped from 79% to 69% in the past year, suggesting U.S. boards are more willing to look externally to find the skills needed to navigate disruption [1]. This contrasts with the FTSE 100 and Nikkei 225, which remain heavily reliant on internal pipelines.

A recent Harvard Business Review study identified ten common pitfalls in CEO succession, including CEO resistance and a failure to align the CEO profile with future strategy. With only 26% of directors feeling confident they have enough time for succession, the risk of a mishandled transition is high [8].

All eyes are on Walmart’s transition from McMillon to Furner. Its success—or failure—will provide critical lessons for boards across every sector.

The message from this week’s data is unequivocal: the CEO’s chair is hotter, the tenure is shorter, and the demand for agile, transformative leadership has never been greater. The most resilient organizations will be those whose boards treat leadership succession not as a periodic crisis, but as a perpetual strategic imperative.

CEOs In The News is published weekly for an audience earning $300K to $10MM. It’s intended for educational use to empower executives for the ongoing week. For executive search inquiries, executive branding needs, board advisory services, or newsletter feedback, contact our editorial team. The opinions in this newsletter are not that of its sponsors.

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