The Real Reason Why Caterpillar's CEO Is Leaving

Caterpillar’s CEO is retiring a year ahead of schedule. I was sorry to see Caterpillar’s announcement yesterday that CEO Doug Oberhelman would retire a year early, on January 1, after four years of falling sales. The board was right to act. But Oberhelman’s story is a reminder to all leaders that the phrase “high risk, high reward” has never been entirely correct. More accurately, if less euphoniously, it states, “High risks bring the chance of big rewards but also of big losses.”