The curious case of Daniel Mminele
Was he given the impression that he would be able to institute the changes he deemed fit at Absa, only to find that the business strategy was set in stone and that his role was primarily ceremonial?
In an all too familiar tale, the departure of Absa CEO Daniel Mminele, just 16 months after joining the bank, brings into question the fragility of the relationship between CEO and board. It is undeniable that for the relationship to succeed for the betterment of the business there must be precise alignment on the task at hand. But in some cases communication and trust deteriorate so quickly and with such animosity that both parties choose to part ways, sometimes amicably and other times not.
Mminele’s recent resignation has shone a light on this at times tenuous relationship, and while it might be easy to attribute the resignation to a lack of transformation within the banking sector (and Absa’s executive committee specifically), this in our view does not genuinely reflect the complexity of issues at hand. To do so renders this highly impressive and accomplished CEO, as well as his counterparts at board level, as one-dimensional characters in a sad but predictable drama...
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