CEO Portrait 2024 – Tenure

This article examines the typical tenure of Indian CEOs, the process of selecting CEOs from within the organization, and compares these practices to global trends. It highlights the importance of internal growth for aspiring CEOs and is based on a detailed analysis of leadership roles in 100 Indian companies across various sectors.

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๐——๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ.

An ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข ๐˜๐˜†๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข ๐—ท๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†, ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐Ÿต.๐Ÿฏ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€. This is considerably longer than the other CXOs. This longevity in the role is true even for the professional-CEO (5.0 years). Promoter-CEOs, obviously, have been in the role much longer (18.2 years).

Is longevity good or bad? Tough one to answer. At least, initial data seems to indicate that tenureย ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ – for instance, companies with shorter-than-average CEO tenure averaged MCAP CAGR of 29.3% over 10 years, while those with longer-than-average CEO tenure averaged 29.9%. Of course, many more factors play a role in MCAP than just tenure.

How do the Indian firms select their CEO? It is interesting to note that while the ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐Ÿต.๐Ÿฏ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€, they have spent, on average, the last ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿญ.๐Ÿฌ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†. In other words, they came in, spent ~11 years and then moved to the corner office. Clearly, the Indian companies seem to like to have their future CEOs come from within, have spent a long time in their industry and the company.

How does this compare with the global trends? Well, it seems that this is not very different โ€“ a Spencer Stuart study of the Fortune 500 companies shows that ๐Ÿณ๐Ÿณ% ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒย ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณย ๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ come from within the same industry.

๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜†: If you are shooting for a CEO role, it is better to get in early and grow within the organization. Stay, perform and grow is the mantra.

๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ “๐—–๐—˜๐—ข ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ” ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜†๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€. ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜†๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜†๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข, ๐—–๐—™๐—ข ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ซ๐—ข ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ, ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—น๐˜† ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€.

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ: “Professional Background of the Indian CEOs”

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Anu graduated from DU and subsequently completed her full-time MBA from IMI. Post her MBA, she worked in sales in the BFSI space, with ICICI Lombard, Principal Asset Management, DSP Blackrock and Edelweiss, across bancassurance, and institutional sales. Later, she worked in the start-up space, while pursuing and completing the Master's in Business Law from National Law School. At Resource Bridge, Anu is a Sr Associate in the CEO Practice and has worked closely with Ram on key mandates.


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Ram is currently the Leader for the CEO Practice and also the Managing Partner of the firm. Ram is an Engineer-turned (BE Mechanical, MS Industrial) MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and brings with him 7 years in corporate, 14 years in top-tier consulting and 10 years in executive search. He was last the leader for Life-sciences at Monitor Group and prior to that, headed IMS Consulting and AT Kearney, starting his career with Ashok Leyland. Brings extensive experience in automotive and healthcare/life-sciences space.


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Dhanlaxmi is a CA and ICWA from Mumbai, and brings with her extensive experience as a practicing chartered accountant, serving clients across industries. Alongside, she also served as a visiting faculty in several institutions. At Resource Bridge, Dhana is an Consultant in the CFO Practice, where she has worked with Saroja on several of the key CFO mandates.


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Saroja is a merit-ranking ICWA and is the Lead for the CFO Practice. Coming from an industrial family, she initally worked in the family business focused on automotive forgings. Later, she set up Resource Bridge along with Ram and grew it from infancy. Just over the last few years, she has led 40+ CFO engagements for a variety of clients, and has one of the best networks within the CFO Community, not only in India but outside too. She brings extensive experience in Retail, FMCG and Manufacturing sector.


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Rachana is an MBA with prior work experience at Reliance Industries for 8 years. In her last role at Reliance, Rachana was the Product Manager for theย  $55M Benzene and Xylene portfolio, with responsibility over sales, commercial and client management. Later she was at Sizer Metals, a base metal trading firm, working on hedging, supply chain and account management. At Resource Bridge, she is a Sr Associate in the CFO Practice and has worked with Saroja, the CFO Practice Lead, in delivering key mandates.


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Mona leads the BD & New Client Engagement function at Resource Bridge and is responsible for all client development activities for the firm. She comes from a marketing and brand promotions background, having worked in the marketing function at Matsushita. Mona has done her full-time MBA.


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