When Stable CEO Turnover Masks a Deeper Risk

The number of CEOs leaving the executive suite has steadily increased over the last few years. However, the H1 2026 Global CEO Turnover index from Russell Reynolds Associates offers reassuring news.

In the first half of 2025, there were 101 global CEO departures, down from 118 a year earlier and the lowest first-half total in nine years. Companies named 131 new CEOs, close to the nine-year average. Perhaps most striking, average CEO tenure climbed to 9.0 years, up from 6.6.

On the surface, the story is one of stability. “Stronger markets may have taken some of the pressure off boards to make a leadership change,” said Margot McShane, global board and CEO advisory practice co-leader at Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search and leadership advisory firm based in New York. “We also saw that, even though shareholder activism remained high in markets like the US and Japan, relatively little of that activity was focused on changing management.”

Boards face less pressure to act, and leaders are staying put. But quieter turnover doesn't mean the job has gotten easier. Longer tenures can just as easily conceal a slow-building problem: executive burnout.

The Warning Signs Are Rarely Obvious

Burnout at the top almost never announces itself. “Executive burnout rarely presents as a leader simply saying, ‘I’m burned out,’” said Michael Peterman, senior partner and head of leading at scale at RHR International, a leadership consultant firm based in Chicago. “More often, it appears as a sustained change from the executive's usual way of operating.”

What might that look like? Peterman pointed to a familiar cluster of shifts. “HR leaders may notice increasing irritability or emotional volatility, withdrawal from colleagues, difficulty making decisions, loss of perspective, or a growing tendency to micromanage,” Peterman said. 

No single behavior tells the story. The signal, Peterman noted, “is a cluster of changes that persists over time.”

Article: What HR Leaders Need to Know About Succession Planning in 2026

A Harder Job Than It Used to Be

Part of the challenge is that the role itself has grown more demanding. “CEOs are expected to navigate rapid technological change, geopolitical and economic uncertainty, intensifying stakeholder expectations, and greater public scrutiny — often while making high-consequence decisions with incomplete information,” Peterman said.

Longer tenure, then, cuts both ways. It brings valuable experience and continuity. It can also mean prolonged exposure to accumulating pressure with no meaningful recovery.

This is where the framing matters most. “Burnout should not be viewed solely as an individual resilience issue,” Peterman said. "It can also be a signal that the scope, expectations, or support structure surrounding the role needs attention."

Article: How to Detect Quiet Burnout in High Performers Early

What HR Leaders Can Do Now

For senior HR leaders and boards, the smart move is to treat executive well-being as a business risk, not a personal one. The question isn't only whether the CEO is still delivering results. It's whether the demands of the role are sustainable, and whether your leader has the support and capacity to perform over time.

Use this period of relative stability to your advantage. Strengthen succession planning while conditions are calm rather than scrambling during a crisis. “Strong internal successors are not built at the moment a vacancy appears,” McShane said. “This requires a shift from CEO succession as an event to a CEO progression system intentionally designed to create a deeper, broader set of future-ready CEO succession options well before the decision becomes imminent.”

With a clear view of your leadership bench, watch for the behavioral patterns Peterman describes, and create the conditions that protect leadership capacity. Quieter turnover is an opportunity. The organizations that use it wisely will be the ones ready for whatever comes next.