Seven per cent of former chief executives took another chief executive job

Sixty-one per cent of sitting chief executives said they were considering another chief executive role. Of the former chief executives in the same survey, seven per cent had taken one. Fifty-four per cent had gone to board service instead, advising a board rather than running a company.

The figures are from CEO Transitions: How to Avoid a Bumpy Exit, published by Spencer Stuart in October 2025, from a survey of more than a thousand current and former chief executives in Asia, Europe and North America. The two groups are separate, so the figures cannot say how many wanted another role and failed to get one. The 61 per cent is a table value; the report's prose rounds it to more than 60 per cent.