Why Do Some Executives Fail?

The most obvious reasons center around misuse of company funds or inability to deliver what the board or top executive expects. This usually means the failure to meet expected profits, revenues or stock prices desired. In these situations, the end result is release from the company. It may be advertised as an early retirement or mutually satisfactory release so the executive can spend more time with his family or some other equally unbelievable explanation. In these cases, a company will not spend money on executive coaching. While they may offer outplacement assistance, executive coaching is seldom part of the package. Coaching is typically reserved for those the company wants to save.

The situations that I get called into address usually fall into communication difficulties, management style, or the most serious one----inability to change. Executives fall from favor when they are unable to change with the times. A new boss comes in or the company decides on a new direction and the executive still wants to live in the past. Instead of embracing and leading change, these executives try to resist it. This inability to change with the situation is the quickest path to failure.

Change is inevitable. If the executive is not forced out, he/she will probably get a less than desirable job in the new structure. While coaching can sometimes help, unhappy executives with a bad attitudes in jobs they deem beneath them is a very slippery slope.