zihg / ceo-performance

Data Visualization in R

CEO Performance

Data Visualization in R

Based on the dataset “Top 100 CEOs Final 2016”, I made rank groups showed in the y-axis and counted the number of INSIDER and OUTSIDER in each group, which is showed in the x-axis. I want people to pay attention to the top 40 CEOs, so I drew a rectangular in red line around “1-20” and “21-40”.

The above graph shows that, among the top 100 CEO around the world, most of them are INSIDER (84% vs. 16%). That makes sense because leaders promoted from within generally know the company and the industry better, thus they are more likely to perform better at their jobs.

Interestingly, however, if we look at the graph from another perspective, we can find that most OUTSIDERS who are amongst the top 100 have a better performance, i.e. 68.75% [(6+5)/(6+5+1+1+3)] of them are top 40, while only 34.52% [(14+15)/(14+15+19+19+17)] of INSIDERS can get into top 40. Usually OUTSIDERS are needed when the company is fundamentally challenged and OURSIDERS can transform the company’s business with new skill sets. So perhaps it’s not a good idea to overlook the power of OUTSIDERS.