Boomerang Bosses: Are they good for business or a bad idea?

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When in 2020 Sergio Ermotti stepped down as CEO of Swiss bank UBS, a role he called a “dream job”, little did he know he would end up back in the hotseat just a few years later.

But following the recent collapse of Credit Suisse, and subsequent decision by UBS to absorb Credit Suisse, Sergio, who is now chairman of insurer Swiss Re, has been brought back to steer the ship.

And it makes sense, given Sergio’s track record.

As CEO of UBS between 2011 and 2020, he is credited with overhauling the bank following its bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, not to mention changing the bank’s culture.

While Boomerang CEOs, bosses that return to their former roles, are not especially common, they do happen, usually in times of economic crisis, or when companies face business decline or undergo major transformation.  

As well as Sergio, recent Boomerang CEOs include Bob Igor, who returned to Disney last year, Howard Schultz, who re-joined Starbucks for a third stint in 2022, and Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix founder and CEO, who boomeranged earlier this year.

Apple, Twitter, Bloomberg, Dell, P&G, Reddit, J.C. Penney, Zynga, and Charles Schwab have all had former CEOs (some of them were the original founders) return to lead their organisations at some point.

While every company’s situation is different, the underlying rationale for bringing back a former leader is “to steady the ship and get it back on course”, according to Joe Griesedieck, MD of the Board and CEO practice at Korn Ferry.

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