How would you advocate for the dismissal of a CEO?

Working on the consulting deck for a case comp and the primary issue in the case is the CEO. The guy is a fucking moron -- blatantly discriminatory and often borderline racist. The case cites some of these instances from interviews that were later heavily publicized. So it's clear that this guy has to get the fuck outta there. Revenues are dropping, target customer base taking a public stand against the company... guy just has to go. 

And this is just bullshit case comp (nothing big) so I have the liberty, as unrealistic as it is, to write, "Problem: CEO is an idiot... Solution: Fire him." Or a slightly more elegant version of that.

But what would this look in the actual business world? If the problem is clearly rooted in the CEO and their behavior, would a consultant even propose finding a successor? And let's say they do, how in the world would that be broached during a presentation? 

2 Comments
 

I wouldn't put it in writing or offer it. If someone asked my opinion on management, I would talk about how great everyone but the CEO is. Anyone without their head up their ass would be able to do some inference. 

Editing to add a bit more meat: if you really want to drive the point home, provide data and evidence. Are margins materially lower than competitors? Have recent M&A transactions been a bust? Has the stock price been declining or flat while that of the rest of the competition has been increasing?

If the business is strong but the data shows that something is wrong, the variable to be adjusted is management.

Without evidence, no one is going to trust a junior person's word over an experienced operator.

 

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