Services
Executive Search
Identifying and securing leadership talent aligned with strategy, performance, and growth.
What This Service Is
Leadership is one of the most important drivers of organisational performance.
We help businesses define what they need, identify the right candidates, and secure leadership talent aligned with both strategic direction and organisational culture.
Our Capability
What We Actually Do
- 01Define leadership requirements and role scope
- 02Identify and assess high-quality candidates
- 03Support selection and decision-making
- 04Ensure alignment with strategy and culture
- 05Facilitate smooth leadership transitions
How We Work
We take a precise, discreet, and structured approach.
Our focus is on quality over volume, identifying the right individuals who will have a meaningful impact on the organisation.
Application
Where We Apply It
Leadership Gaps
Filling critical senior roles to maintain momentum and performance.
Growth & Scaling
Securing the leadership talent needed to support organisational expansion.
Organisational Change
Placing leaders who can drive transformation and navigate complexity.
Strategic Repositioning
Aligning leadership capability with a new strategic direction.
Problems Addressed
What This Work Is For
- 01The role has been defined by the previous incumbent rather than by what the business now needs.
- 02Processes are run at speed and select for interview performance rather than for the demands of the role.
- 03The search must be conducted discreetly, sometimes before the incumbent knows.
- 04Appointments have been made before and did not hold, without the reason being examined.
Engagement Triggers
When Leaders Get In Touch
A planned or unplanned departure at leadership level.
A new capability the current team does not hold, a new market, function or transformation agenda.
Investor or board expectation of a strengthened leadership team.
Succession planning where internal candidates need benchmarking against the external market.
Typical Workstreams
What The Work Involves
- 01Role definition: the specific decisions and outcomes the appointment owns in the first year.
- 02Market mapping across relevant sectors, including candidates not currently looking to move.
- 03Structured, discreet approach and assessment against the agreed criteria.
- 04Shortlist presentation with reasoning, including reservations as well as strengths.
- 05Support through offer, negotiation and the early months of the appointment.
Deliverables
What You Are Left With
- A written role specification agreed with the board or hiring executive.
- A market map showing where the relevant capability sits.
- A shortlist with assessment against criteria, and the reservations stated plainly.
- An onboarding plan covering the appointment's first ninety days.
Our Approach
How An Engagement Runs
- 01
Define the role properly
We begin with what the appointment must decide and deliver, not with a job description inherited from the past. Most disappointing appointments were mis-specified before they were mis-selected.
- 02
Map the market
We identify where the capability genuinely exists, including candidates who are not actively looking, and approach them discreetly.
- 03
Assess against the specification
Candidates are evaluated against the agreed criteria and evidence of comparable decisions, rather than against each other's interview performance.
- 04
Support the landing
We stay involved through offer and into the first weeks, because the risk to an appointment does not end at signature.
Around The Table
Who Is Usually Involved
- Chair or board, for appointments at chief executive and non-executive level
- Chief executive, for direct reports
- Human resources or people director, as process and candidate-experience owner
- Investors, where the appointment forms part of a value-creation plan
Capability
What This Makes Possible
- 01A role specification the board and the candidate understand in the same terms.
- 02Visibility of the relevant market, including candidates a public process would not reach.
- 03A decision made on evidence against criteria, with reservations documented.
- 04A defined start plan rather than an appointment left to find its own way in.
Questions
Questions We Are Asked
Are you a search firm or an advisory practice?
- We are an advisory practice that conducts search where it follows from the work. That usually means we already understand the strategic context of the role, and it means we will tell you when a search is not the right answer.
Can a search be run confidentially?
- Yes. Discretion is often the reason we are asked. Approaches are made without disclosing the client until a candidate is genuinely engaged and confidentiality is agreed.
What if the right answer is an internal candidate?
- Then we will say so. Benchmarking internal candidates against the external market is a legitimate objective, and an internal appointment made with that evidence is a stronger appointment.
Do you consider interim or fractional appointments?
- Where the need is time-bound or the permanent specification is not yet settled, an interim appointment is often the better step, and we will recommend it rather than push a permanent process.
What happens if an appointment does not work out?
- We agree the position on this in writing before a search begins, alongside fees and timelines, so expectations on both sides are clear from the outset.
Where To Next
Related Capabilities And Perspectives
- Management Consulting
Work with senior management consultants to address complex organisational decisions, improve performance and turn leadership priorities into action.
- Founders & CEOs
Gain a discreet senior sounding board for the strategic, leadership and operational decisions that matter most to your business's next stage.
- Corporate Leadership Teams
Independent senior counsel for executive teams making consequential choices about strategy, transformation, operating models and execution.
- Insights
Timely perspectives and expert analysis for leaders navigating complexity, growth, transformation and strategic decision-making.
- The Leadership Hire That Changes Everything
The right senior appointment can transform a business. But most executive searches focus on credentials over alignment.
- The Senior Hire Test: Do You Need a Person, a Process or a System?
Most senior roles in owner-managed businesses are designed around the founder's pain rather than a business outcome. That is why so many of them disappoint. This diagnostic separates the four things that actually cause the gap, sets out the mandate a senior appointment needs in order to work, and shows the real first-year cost of getting it wrong.
Appointing at leadership level?
Tell us what the role has to achieve in its first year. We will advise on the specification before discussing a process.
Discuss a searchNeed the right leadership in place?
We help organisations secure talent that supports performance, change, and growth.
Work With Us