As the pandemic slowly winds down, a significant amount has been written about the its impact on B2C and B2B customer buying habits and patterns. Increased social restrictions, unemployment, remote work, and limited access to products and services are among the economic and societal shifts that have had a drastic impact on customer aspirations and purchase behavior. What hasn't been covered as much is the impact the COVID-19 has had on operational and business practices of the companies that serve these customers.

A few months ago, I used this forum to discuss the continuing decline of public company CEO’s tenure. At that time, the average tenure was less than five years.

Not that long ago, the word “disruption” wasn’t exactly popular. Its use was typically linked to a negative or bothersome situation.

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to accelerate change in the workplace. COVID-19 forced companies and other organizations to quickly put infrastructure in place for working from anywhere (WFA). While many of these organizations have been pleasantly surprised that technology has made WFA easier than they thought, there remains little consensus around what should happen next with returning employees to the workplace. 

James Brett, J. Crew Group, Inc.; Michael Mauler, Gamestop; Tom Hayes, Tyson Foods; and, John Flannery, GE, all have something in common. They abruptly ended their tenure as CEOs of major public companies in less than two years. Mauler exited after only three months. Such is the C-suite environment in today’s public companies.