Search
The very essence of the search profession lies in the ability to identify and mobilise top talent and the ability to create long-lasting relationships between them and our clients.
Even the large retained search firms, for all their extensive research capabilities and financial dry powder, haven’t evolved a “gold standard” in executive assessment. Having worked as peers in some of the most respected search firms we have come to realise that each partner really relies on his or her own methodology and principles. Whilst there is a lot of beauty in that, it is also fair to comment that executive assessment remains rather subjective, non-standardised, neither repeatable nor scalable across a search firm made up of multiple partners.
Executive candidate assessment will always be an imprecise art. With this in mind, we have identified 3 principles that guide us to stay true to our mission :
Capture Transferability
Identifying leaders is one thing. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the demonstration of leadership in one environment is no guarantee for leadership in another. The “Transferable Executive” (TE) is the basis for Sustainable Leadership.
We have accompanied hundreds of executives transitioning to client organizations. For those leaders that we witnessed making the biggest and most lasting impact, there are two key competences on which they consistently scored highly: self-awareness and adaptability. We populate our database with those and we focus on hunting and finding this type of skillset, regardless of industry or geography.
They are a rare breed. Fortunately, compared to other firms, we are able to disregard blockages in the search process. Often, our competitors are slowed down by extensive client conflicts, placement off-limits, and candidate reserving policies, limiting their access to talent. We face no such difficulties. We recognize Transferable Leaders. We know them on a first-name basis. We have their trust, and we can mobilize them. We believe in the value of our judgement and will take a position. This is what we want to be measured on by our clients, assignment after assignment.
Assess candidates & client alike
Alongside assessing the candidate, and equally important, is an assessment of the client. We invest time assessing the client organisation in which the new executives will be seeded. We have come to realise that a key variable in a new executive’s success is the quality of the embedding organisation and its structure of responsibility in particular.
We attend client-candidate meetings to better appreciate the dynamics. We choose to work with a relatively short list of clients with whom we aim to build a deep relation across all levels and stakeholders. All contacts (meetings and calls/ candidates and clients) are conducted by the Partners. This ensures that the highest level of quality and discretion is maintained throughout the search process.
Commit to clear deadlines
The search process itself taps from the best practices to be found at the global retained search firms. We are, however, unburdened by the bureaucracy of these larger firms. Clients will notice the absence of these energy leaks make a real difference. To start, it helps us to make clear commitments on deadlines. Our commitment is that within the first month of the search a client organization will be talking to relevant candidate-material. If we are not confident of this, we will not start the mandate.