Yesterday you were still setting the pace. Today your access has been blocked, your company phone is silent, and the quiet in your home office is almost deafening.
I know how that moment feels. It’s a sudden loss of relevance. Your first impulse? To get busy. You want to prove to the market you’re still there. Contact headhunters, flood your network, show strength.
Don’t. It’s 2026. The market has turned completely. It’s a tough employer’s market. Competition at the top is fiercer than ever, thanks to endless waves of restructuring and AI transformation. If you now follow the well-worn applicant routes of the past, you’ll either disappear or look desperate.
From my experience in executive search: people who get this wrong burn their story before the first real conversation even happens.
What to do instead:
1. Stop the frantic activity.
Contact every headhunter immediately, without a clear, distinctive story, and your market value drops in seconds.
2. LinkedIn isn’t a graveyard for CVs.
In 2026, your profile is your most important B2B positioning. Leave a static CV there and you’ll be filtered out, by the algorithms and by us headhunters.
3. Clarity before speed.
You don’t need a run-of-the-mill PDF. You need a positioning that makes you the answer to a crisis in the hidden market (where 90 % of CXO roles are filled!).
There’s a precise five-step sequence for recalibrating yourself now so that you stay in control of your story.
I’ve summarised that roadmap in a white paper:
“Executive exit 2026: five immediate steps towards your next mandate.”
Would you like the roadmap?
Because discretion is everything at our level, I only share it privately.
Send me a message with the keyword “Top 5” and your email address,
and I’ll send you the document personally.
Let’s make sure this moment becomes your smartest career move.
