In the Future, Everyone Will be the CEO of Barnes & Noble for Fifteen Minutes

Barnes & Noble has had three CEOs in the past four years, and now it is Demos Parneros's turn in the hot seat.

Barnes & Noble has been struggling to find someone to helm its drifting ship. After an eight-month search for a CEO, it promoted Demos Parneros to the role, just five months after he joined the company as chief operating officer.

Parneros has little book-selling experience to speak of—prior to his arrival at Barnes & Noble in November, he held several management positions at Staples since 1987—but it’s not clear this is much of a disadvantage. Even the most experienced hands in book retailing have struggled to keep up with the industry’s massively changing landscape, which helps explain why the company has churned through three CEOs in three years.

Parneros's predecessor only held the job for 8 months before getting canned. Barnes & Noble has in fact gone through so many CEOs in the past four years that they have had to start a waiting list.

I have signed up to be the CEO of B&N starting on 5 March 2019.

I see it less as a job than as my entry into a betting pool. If B&N goes under on my watch, I will get to steal the office furniture.

image by BryanAlexander