Power Sheet - August 28, 2015

I think a CEO’s worst day is when he or she announces that he or she is resigning, no successor is named – and the stock goes up.

It isn’t all that unusual. On this date in 2012, Angela Braly announced she was stepping down as CEO of the health insurer Wellpoint, now known as Anthem. By the end of the day, the company had gained $1 billion of value.

Almost exactly a year later, Steve Ballmer announced he would be leaving Microsoft. The company gained $18 billion of value that day.

Last December, Abercrombie & Fitch announced that its longtime CEO, Mike Jeffries, was leaving immediately. That news was worth $150 million of market cap in one day.

This past February, Starwood Hotels and Resorts said CEO Frits van Paasschen had stepped down. By day’s end, investors had decided the company was now worth $350 million more.

In none of these cases did the company name a successor. Investors’ verdict was clear: anybody but him or her.

It would be nice to report that getting rid of the wrong leader caused all of these companies to prosper, but it isn’t so, as we’re reminded by Abercrombie’s recent earnings report. The company beat analysts’ dismal expectations; sales were down by less than was forecast. But despite the burst of hope when Jeffries quit, the stock is still in a long decline that began while he was in charge. Similarly, Starwood’s stock rose for a few months after van Paasschen left but then turned down and is now lower than when he was there. By contrast, Anthem and Microsoft have done well since their leadership upheaval.

The explanation seems clear. Anthem and Microsoft, having said goodbye to the wrong CEO, then installed the right CEO – Joseph Swedish at Anthem and Satya Nadella at Microsoft. But Abercrombie and Starwood still don’t have permanent CEOs. Each has an able executive sitting in. At Abercrombie, Arthur Martinez, a 75-year-old retail veteran famed for saving Sears in the 1990s, is executive chairman. Starwood’s interim CEO is a director, Adam Aron, former CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines and Vail Resorts. Both companies are still searching for a CEO.

The clear lesson is that every organization needs a leader every day, and there’s no substitute for a CEO who’s in it for the long haul and who bears the full weight of responsibility on his or her shoulders. You can’t blame investors for feeling exhilarated when the wrong CEO finally leaves. But investors, employees, and directors mustn’t forget that the top executive’s departure is only half the job of getting a company back on track, and it’s the easy half.

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