C-level executives are getting older and making more job moves, according to new data analyzed in The Wall Street Journal.
The data, from researchers and set to published in the California Management Review, tracks the traits of executives with the Fortune 100 and dates back to 1980.
Researcher Peter Cappelli, DPhil, professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said the data suggests that, "In many ways, there is more stability in the corporate world now than we would ever imagine from the tales of intrigue within individual executive suites."
C-level trends industrywide and among Fortune 100 can zoom out on those demonstrated in hospitals and health systems. For one, this year has marked increased churn among hospital CEOs, with 126 CEO exits through October — a 62% increase from the same time period in 2022.
Here are three key takeaways from the research of Dr. Cappelli and colleagues. Ten others are detailed in the WSJ, including those related to women's advancement, the dominance of Ivy League schools and executives' degrees and backgrounds.
1. C-suite executives are getting older. Executives were getting younger after 1980, and the average age fell to 51 in 2001. Now, C-level leaders are back to where they were in 1980: 57 years old on average.
2. Executives are doing more job hopping. The count of companies where executives have worked, including their current employer, has increased from 2.2 in 1980 to 3.3 in 2021 — a 50% increase.
3. Executives are less likely to be lifers. Just under 20% of executives have spent their whole careers at one company, less than half the level that did so in 1980. Legacy companies that have been in the Fortune 100 since 1980 are one exception, with more than twice the percentage of lifers as their peers.