“The single most important thing is to make sure you have the right leadership for the business. In a world economy that remains prone to macro shocks, the firms we work for are looking for expertise and a successful record, but equally important, CEOs who really want to make a difference transforming a company.” —… Read More

Obsolescence should not be feared. While it signals the end of something familiar, it welcomes a new way forward. We have reached this crossroads with retained executive search. It is obsolete. Today, the retained executive search process is costly. Frequently, after lengthy recruiting processes, retained searches deliver new board members who fit poorly with the… Read More

During my daily work of representing C-Suite executives for their interest in independent directorships and partnering with corporate boards by providing them with vetted executives, it is clear to me that investor focus on board performance has reached new levels of intensity. Activist investors who have been historically assertive are now even more aggressive and… Read More

Over the last sixteen years of practicing, advising and serving as an agent in the arena of executive search, I have seen the offer process go very well and I have also witnessed pure disasters. Most often, executives do not know how to negotiate an offer.  Even though an executive may be very talented at… Read More

As I make my final preparations for a panel that I will be serving on tomorrow at the MOAA Military Executives in Transition (MET) program, I thought the following insights would be helpful to my fellow panelists and the audience as they also prepare for attending tomorrow’s program. I work with a number of military… Read More

In last week’s post on interview preparation, I discussed the essentials of practicing and rehearsing. There is a vast range of questions that could be posed to you in an interview. It is critical that you prepare and practice questions that you will also ask of the interviewer. There are several different interview formats including telephone,… Read More

Taking the time to prepare, practice and rehearse now sounds basic, but you would be amazed at how many candidates simply do not take the time to do so. In the first step of interview preparation, I discussed the importance of research, followed by taking a proactive approach. This third step discusses the science behind essential practice… Read More

As I add on to this current series on interview preparation and last week’s post regarding the first step of interview preparation – research, I am happy to share the next step – being proactive with interview preparation. If you are proactively prepared for the interview, rather than allowing the interviewer(s) to take control, your… Read More

In my prior post, I discussed initial insights into interview preparation for board of director opportunities. This week, I’m taking a look at the CSuite side of the equation and starting a series of posts on how to prepare for interviews for CSuite opportunities. This advice can also be applied to lower level positions, as these… Read More

It seems to me that almost every executive I speak with aspires to serve on a corporate board. I must say by experience, achieving your first board seat, or even the second will likely be the most difficult, arduous task you will accomplish in your entire professional career. There are a multitude of reasons as… Read More