Eight hours of hiking across the peaks of Mallorca sharpen your sense of what matters. Back at work, I see the most expensive paradox of my 20 years in executive search:
companies demand radical change, but when the key roles are filled, the “pleasant” candidates win.
The bitter reality of the search process:
your portfolio company is in upheaval. Markets are on fire. The board is calling for a new era.
And who gets the job in the end?
Often the person who makes nobody on the board nervous. The smoothest diplomat. The appointment that won’t rock the boat.
Let’s not kid ourselves: that’s organisational self-sabotage.
In a transformation, mediocre leadership isn’t a safe haven. It’s the slow death of all momentum. If you really want change, you need someone prepared to challenge the status quo, painfully. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.
If a candidate’s answers are too smooth in the interview, they aren’t a solution. They’re a risk.
Three questions that reveal the difference between an administrator and a doer:
1. The provocation test:
“What’s the first thing you’d stop in my current strategy, knowing it’s my personal pet project?”
2. The courage test:
“Tell me about a decision you had to make within 24 hours, with 50 % of the data missing and 100 % of the risk on the table.”
3. The reality test:
“How do you break resistance in middle management when people are simply sitting out your targets?”
A mediocre leader will promise you harmony. A real transformation leader delivers results through the friction that change requires.
As a search partner, my job isn’t to find the candidate everyone thinks is nice. It’s to secure real strategic impact in your organisation, with people who lead rather than simply moderate.
Facing an appointment that will decide between success and stagnation? Let’s talk frankly about the profile: a.christl@talentspy.de
