It is as diplomats that the best headhunters earn their keep.
Today's corporate and cultural zeitgeist demand nimble, effective, and—most importantly—responsive leaders.
Boards are looking for more in the C-Suite than has sufficed in years past: stamina to
endure and surmount the intense workload and frequent global travel, media-facing know-how, and cultural intelligence, for example.
With fewer than fifty of America’s 675 largest firms headed by women, and with about the same small number being non-white, shareholders and consumers are mounting pressure to improve gender and racial equality in the corporate arena.
This, combined with the aging of incoming CEOs since 2005 (the average age has risen sharply, to 58), make the task of finding the right person more critical than ever before. And, getting it wrong can be costly. The Conference Board, a think-tank, finds that the costs of changing bosses (severance, search, lost productivity during the transition, and so on) are generally equivalent to 5% of annual profit(“The Economist,” Feb. 6 2020).
Adding to the difficulty of selecting the best candidate is the fact that many of today’s largest
corporations are an amalgamation of manufacturer, retailer, and technology firm; then throw into the mix the ever-increasing threat of cybercrime, and the qualified CEO is starting to look more and more like Marvel’s newest superhero.
Then there is the issue of succession. Boards and regulators are insisting
firms make succession plans years in advance. Success Advocates can help by
benchmarking internal stars against potential external candidates.