Stress and the City (B): António Horta-Osório, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group

After announcing the sudden medical leave of absence of António Horta Osório, CEO of Lloyd's Banking Group, the challenge facing the board was unprecedented. They would have to take immediate action to ensure interim leadership, and plan for the future. Should António Horta Osório return as CEO? If so, under what conditions? The board could only begin to answer these questions by addressing the source of the problem: What had caused their highly experienced and previously successful CEO to burn out? And how could they prevent it from happening again? Their collective knowledge of finance and the vicissitudes of global markets was broad and deep, but now they would be forced to discuss the undiscussable: the taboo of senior executive stress.

This case presents the story of a highly regarded CEO who was temporarily brought down by the multiple pressures induced by a global economic crisis and internal business challenges. The objective is to focus on stress at the senior executive and board level, and to challenge the taboos around discussing this increasingly prevalent problem.