Demanding a turnaround, but hiring C-level leaders for fair weather.
In more than 20 years of executive search I’ve seen an expensive paradox: the bigger the crisis, the more cowardly the people decisions often become.
Your portfolio company is under huge pressure. Time is running out. The board wants quick results.
And who gets hired for the critical executive role in the end?
The person with the smoothest CV.
The most famous former employer.
The best “cultural fit”.
That’s madness.
A wrong appointment at this level doesn’t just cost you a board salary. In a restructuring, the real damage is far more brutal:
it costs the trust of the workforce.
It costs the last bit of momentum.
And above all, it costs time you no longer have.
When the house is on fire, you don’t need someone who fits perfectly into the existing feel-good culture. You need someone who can break that culture open without bringing the whole system down.
If you’re hiring for real transformation, stop filtering by famous brands and start testing for resilience and toughness in execution.
If your top candidate wobbles here, they’re the wrong person for the crisis:
1. The 50 % rule:
“How do you decide when you only have half the data, but we as a board want results this afternoon?”
2. The resistance test:
“What exactly is your plan for the first 30 days if middle management greets you with open sabotage?”
3. The priorities trap:
“In your last crisis, which beloved corporate project did you kill first, without mercy?”
A fair-weather leader will recite clever management theory. A real transformation leader will show you scars, hard numbers and unpopular decisions.
Are you facing a business-critical appointment in a restructuring or transformation?
I’m always happy to have an informal conversation. Let’s give the candidate profiles an honest reality check, with a sparring partner who knows from 20 years of experience who can really hold the wheel in a storm.
Send me a message for a confidential conversation: a.christl@talentspy.de
TALENTspy. When leadership matters most.
