Globalization and the necessity to keep pace with global trends have caused a rise in the number of international CEOs taking leadership of the largest companies listed on the FTSE. According to Robert Half CEO Tracker, British CEOs are still the first choice.
The number of British CEOs operating the FTSE decreased from 65 one year ago to 61 out of 100 companies, distinguishing global CEOs.
However, the loyalty of FTSE executives is rewarded, and of the 40 leaders on Robert Half FTSE 100 CEO tracker who got their position through interior promotion, 60% are UK citizens. This had nearly doubled since 2015 when only 21 of the company’s new CEOs said that the company’s loyalty and experience are core values for a British CEO.
Interestingly, almost half (47%) of the top CEOs come from other countries, and 14 of the new CEOs this year, six come from the rest of the world, eight from the UK. That brings the dial closer to half split.
Given that globalization brings novel personalities and challenges, it’s fascinating to realize that the “average” CEO of FTSE is still a UK man in his fifties. Again, the CEOs aged the 40s has increased this year. Other factors that also challenge the old-style CEO profile are:
• While financial history remains the preferred way to become CEO, those with financial experience remain to decline. 40% of the chief executives have a fiscal background this year, indicating a decrease of 15% compared to 2016 (55%).
• Last year Robert Half CEO Tracker noted that tech-savvy executives are increasing. This year, the “tech-savvy CEOs” numbers are stable at 11%. This shows that FTSE companies are convinced of their technological capabilities in all industries before the initiation of disrupting events like digital transformation and GDPR.
• The results also display that large UK companies no longer play on FTSE 100 carousel and go beyond their counterparts. CEOs have been selected from FTSE companies that have stabilized in the past four years.
Grubb concludes that because of an evolving governance landscape, traditional experiences might not be the established criteria for managing the top companies of the prospect. However, education, global experience, and values like tenure and loyalty will forever be significant.
