Executive Search

When the Ad:tech advertising technology conference hits New York next week, marketers, advertising agencies and recruiters may spend less time listening to the panelists and more time working the floor to find new employees.

It’s a commonly reported statistic that nearly 50 percent of newly recruited leaders in established markets fail in the first eighteen months; this trend is very often exacerbated in cross-border, cross-culture appointments. The true cost of these failures ranges from the financial (ten to fifteen times
compensation package) to the emotional (damage to corporate leadership, employee morale and commitment). Assuming a six-figure talent pool, costs can easily approach an average of US $500,000 per candidate.

HR is playing a more important role than ever in CEO succession. But the process often requires CHROs to walk a fine line.  Not so long ago, the issue of CEO succession was a relatively straightforward one for the head of HR.  CEOs mostly owned the succession process, and often felt that if they had one or perhaps two possible successors who could take over at the appropriate time, that was enough.  No longer.  As boards are coming under growing pressure to make sure their companies have robust CEO succession strategies, and are passing that expectation on to their CEOs, HR is increasingly being called upon to play a key role.