Executive search built around outcomes, not job descriptions.
A search process built around the business needs.
Most searches start with a position description and a list of preferred requirements. Ours start with a harder question: what does the business need this leader to achieve over the next two years?
The answer shapes how we define the role, who we approach, how we assess them and how we help you make the final decision.
Define the business objectivesÂ
We start with the business, not the candidate. Before writing the brief, we meet with the key stakeholders to understand why the role exists, what is changing and what the new leader needs to deliver in their first 12 to 24 months.
A CFO mandate might focus on rebuilding FP&A or improving financial visibility. A COO mandate might focus on increasing capacity, improving service levels or developing the next layer of operational leadership.
Agree on the success factors
We turn the business objectives into the experience, capabilities, and leadership qualities required for the role.
Build a weighted scorecard
Not every requirement carries the same weight. We build a scorecard that reflects what matters most and use it to assess every candidate consistently.
The aim is not to turn hiring into a formula. It is to prevent chemistry, familiarity, or interview confidence from carrying more weight than a candidate’s actual track record.
Map the market
Our experience across food, beverage and agribusiness helps us identify relevant leaders within the sector and in adjacent industries where the experience transfers.
We proactively head hunt talented leaders rather than solely relying on who happens to be looking for a new role. Many of the strongest candidates we speak with are not active in the market.
Assess objectively
Our interviews are structured around the success factors agreed at the beginning of the search. We ask candidates for specifics. What did they inherit? What did they personally own? What decisions did they make? What changed as a result?
This allows us to assess each candidate against the needs of the role, rather than simply comparing them with one another.
Structure your interviews
Our detailed candidate reports cover each person’s relevant experience, achievements, motivations, and any areas that should be explored further.
We also help turn the agreed success factors into practical interview questions and evaluation criteria. This gives interviewers a consistent framework and reduces the risk of each conversation becoming a different assessment of personality or chemistry.
See how candidates think
For each search mandate, we include a practical case study based on a realistic business situation. It is not a way to obtain free consulting work or judge someone’s ability to create a fancy deck. It shows how a candidate works through a problem, decides what matters, and communicates their thinking. This step has proven to be the best opportunity to assess upside potential.
Add further assessments where useful
Personality and behavioural assessments can provide useful context on leadership style, communication, decision-making, and team dynamics. Where relevant, we use them as another source of information, not as a pass or fail test.
Validate and close
Detailed references help confirm what we have learned throughout the process.
We also stay close to both the client and candidate on compensation and role expectations, motivations, and potential concerns, so issues can be addressed before they become deal breakers.
More data points, not more process.
We are not trying to make leadership hiring more complicated. We are giving clients and candidates enough information to make an important decision about each other with confidence.
Define your next leadership search.
Start with the outcomes your next executive needs to deliver.