So, um, heard any stories lately about organizations that suddenly had to fill a CEO vacancy?

I don’t want to pile on the now-infamous tech CEO who resigned his post after being caught on a kiss-cam at a Coldplay concert with a woman not his wife. But the incident is just a peculiar twist in a leadership trend in 2025: Executives, for one reason or another, unseemly and not, seem to be hastening toward the exits.

According to a recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, CEO departures are up 19 percent in the early months of this year compared to the same period in 2024. Andrew Challenger, a senior VP at the firm, says the shift comes thanks to “the epic changes and uncertainty facing many companies right now.”

Writing in Fortune, Korn Ferry’s Radhika Papandreou echoed the point, discussing how many potential CEOs are now turning down the gig. “Rather than telling current or aspiring CEOs to be agile and flexible, we need to start preparing them for an era of leadership whose rules we have to figure out on the fly,” she writes. “And we need to provide more support to make the job enticing again.”

Though this is a more acute crisis in the corporate sector, it’s a matter of concern for associations and their boards as well. After all, associations are charged with supporting members in industries facing those “epic changes and uncertainty,” and the pressures of that responsibility may mean that CEO turnover in associations, historically slower than in the corporate sector, may accelerate. Organizations need to be prepared. 

Writing in Fast Company, FranklinCovey’s Greg Smith offers a number of suggestions for what that process might look like. To a large degree, the transition is less about hitting metrics than it is about establishing a healthy culture. Rather than looking to make a big splash, they should aspire to clarity with the teams they’re leading. 

“New leaders often arrive eager to prove themselves—scanning for early wins they can capture,” he writes. “But that motivation can come across as self-serving and raise a red flag for the rest of the team. Early moves should build trust: showing the leader is focused on enabling the team, not spotlighting their own capabilities.”

That echoes what I’ve heard in my own conversations with association leaders about transitioning into the CEO spot. Learning the culture of the organization is as important in early days as establishing KPIs. “Every workplace has its unique culture, comprising people, politics, and pressure points,” Smith writes. “If those aren’t surfaced early, the new leader struggles to find their way, which at best delays success and in too many instances derails it completely.”

Both Smith and Papandreou recommend a support system to get through that early period: A coach, an executive chair, a “SWAT team” of experts. What works best will depend on what best serves the particular CEO or organization. But going it alone is a less appealing option, when up to half of CEOs feel like they’re failing within their first 18 months. Healthy organizations need healthy leaders—CEOs and boards alike should make sure those leaders are cared for.