Long serving NHS CEOs: what makes them tick and what keeps them going? (February 2020)

Summary

Scrutiny of NHS chief executive officers (CEOs) has tended to focus on the generally short tenure of their position. The implications of high turnover have been assessed but there has been limited research looking at CEOs who remain in post for long periods, whether in the same organisations or in multiple ones. This study by researchers from the University of Manchester draws on interview data collected in 2019 with 10 long serving CEOs in the English NHS, with an average tenure of 17 years.

Content

This paper focuses on the following research questions:

1. How do long-term CEOs manage to create, develop, disrupt or maintain their organisation over an extended period?
2. How do they manage the boundary between the organisation and external interests?
3. How do these CEOs build and sustain their personal resilience in the face of internal and external imperatives?
4. How do they exhibit their strategic competence, political astuteness and leadership roles?