Four CEOs found the secret to thriving during the retail apocalypse

A few taps on a screen or a handful of words heard by a smart speaker and within a couple days, maybe hours, packages arrive.

Buying things has never been easier. Selling them, however, is increasingly difficult. Blame changing tastes and the explosion of online options for killing off numerous retailers and forcing others to rewrite playbooks. Just last year about four dozen chief executives of U.S. companies making everything from Tupperware to jeans departed, according to researcher Exechange.

“The game has changed,” said John Wood, a vice chairman at recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles. Much of the traditional marketing and merchandising that worked in the past doesn’t anymore, he said. Plus, today's CEOs need different skills, like enough humility to know their limits and continually