Being a CEO is the "booby prize" usually given in recognition of an anticipated terrible performance, last-place finish or need for someone to take a fall for event(s) they had nothing to do with. "52 percent of founder CEOs have been replaced by the third round of financing; 44 percent of founder CEOs are replaced by the 3rd round of financing were fired by board; 8 percent of founder CEOs, the remaining cases - by far the minority - the founder raised his hand and said: there's got to be someone better than me to lead us to the next stage. When you're the creator of a company, you're increasing the chances that you're going to get fired 'the paradox of entrepreneurial success.' The most successful of founders, the ones who led their start-ups to completing key milestones the quickest, were actually the first ones to get fired. When you're a smashing success, you're also heightening the chances you're going to get fired." (Jessica Bruder, "A Harvard Professor Analyzes Why Start-Ups Fail" NYTimes.com May 25, 2012 at http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/a-harvard-professor-analyzes-why-start-ups-fail/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 accessed August 11, 2014) "40 percent of new chief executives fail outright within their first 18 months on the job." (Nicole Fallon, "Leadership Failures: 5 Stumbling Blocks for Bosses," Business News Daily blog October 15, 2014 http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7293-why-leaders-fail.html)