In 2018, the top five executives at major US companies were surrounded by an average of six people, everywhere they went – ranging from two or three at companies earning under $500 million a year to ten or more at those earning in the billions.
Today, the average is just four – and some have given up their entourages entirely.
“It’s not about the money,” says Nora Willson, an expert on corporate entourages at Cleveland’s Paxington Institute. “It’s about finding the people to be in them.”
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the number of people applying for all positions at US companies has declined by 75 percent. “When you need a CFO or a suspension analyst,” says Willson, “it’s hard to justify filling an entourage position.”
Most entourages, she notes, are made up of people with no other responsibilities, available 24 hours a day to make the CEO appear important. Stakeholders expect them to be in place, and when they’re not the results can be disastrous.
“Last year I cut my entourage,” says the CEO of a multi-billion dollar polymer developer. “Within four days, our stock price had fallen by 17 percent.” Stockholders took it at as a sign that bad times were coming, she says, so she had no choice but to re-start .
“The stock’s on its way back up,” she says. “Thank God!”
But many companies don’t have such flexibility.
“I had five people for over 20 years but now I need pattern appraisers,” says a transformative CEO who disbanded his entourage a couple months ago. While he was able to fill the appraiser positions, he feels he isn’t getting as much respect.
“Last week a route planner parked in my designated spot,” he says. “I fear that’s just the beginning.”
