A few days ago I was in a briefing for a new search.
The client handed me an excellent role profile. Industry experience, span of control, track record, all neatly written down.
After 30 minutes, we both realised that the document described the organisation’s past, not the future in which the candidate is supposed to make a difference.
In my years in executive search, this happens more often than you’d think, especially in complex transformations:
a profile can be as precise as you like. If the strategic question behind it is wrong, even the most accurate search will lead you, unerringly, to the wrong person.
My approach in critical situations:
I almost never start with the role or the CV.
I start with the next 12 months:
1. Which two or three priorities in the business need to change measurably over the next 12 to 18 months? (value creation, turnaround, scaling)
2. Which leadership profile, which personality, can pull exactly that lever?
3. Only then: which hard facts does the candidate need to bring?
It takes a little more time in the initial sparring. But in the end it saves the advisory board, CEO or investor months lost to the wrong hire and six-figure opportunity costs.
A briefing shouldn’t be a catalogue of past skills. It should translate a business challenge into leadership. Especially in special situations such as turnarounds, carve-outs, transformation, restructuring and value creation.
Andreas Christl
Managing Partner
TALENTspy Executive Search for Special Situations
When leadership matters most.
