October 31, 2024

Anxious About References? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Be

Many job candidates get nervous when it's time to do references. That's understandable — references usually come at the end of the hiring process, and there's a fear something will go wrong, sending a promising job opportunity will go down in flames.

The root of this anxiety is a misperception of what references are all about. Most people think of references as a search for reasons not to hire someone. It's true that sometimes referencing uncovers a fatal flaw that scuttles a candidacy, but that's exceptionally rare. The vast majority of candidates have nothing to worry about.

What then is referencing for? 

First, referencing gives the hiring manager information on how best to manage the candidate if he joins the company. 

Second, referencing helps the hiring manager feel confident in her decision. That confidence will be invaluable when the candidate hits the inevitable rough patch as he comes up to speed.

Note that both of these things help the candidate. Reference checking is not something to be feared — it's beneficial because it sets the stage for a successful working relation with a future boss.

The only time candidates with a good track record should get anxious about references is if potential employers don't do them, or don't do them in a serious way. That's a sign that the hiring manager is not running a good process and makes decisions without adequate information.

October 24, 2024

Keep it Professional in Negotiations

Negotiating a job offer is delicate business that can test emotions and professionalism on both sides of the table.

Staying cool isn't always easy. Emotions can run high. But it's of paramount importance for both parties to keep the tone of discussions pleasant and professional. 

When everyone is on their best behavior, negotiations set the stage for a positive long-term relationship. And when talks get testy, things can go south fast.

Over many years in executive search, I can count on one hand the times a candidate really lost his cool. In one instance, my client made an offer that would have increased the candidate’s annual compensation by about 60%. Accepting the offer should have been a no-brainer, but the candidate flew off the handle and pushed for more. 

His tantrum had the exact opposite of the intended effect. My client withdrew the offer within the hour. The stunned candidate begged him to reconsider, but my client quite rightly refused. We quickly moved on and had an acceptance from another candidate within a week. 

By definition, when you're negotiating the deal isn't done. Both sides continue to evaluate each other, and there's still time to get out. 

So if you want to deal to happen, don't let your emotions get the best of you. Stay professional, always, no matter what.

October 17, 2024

Networking Advice for Busy Executives

Most executive level jobs are filled through personal connections. They are never advertised and don't go to executive search.

The reasons are understandable. Recruiting through a CEO’s personal connections can be faster and less expensive, and results in hiring someone who comes with a strong referral from a trusted colleague.

Given this reality, it's logical that executives would invest time in maintaining the relationships they build up over their careers. That would maximize the chances of hearing about opportunities through these informal networks. But many do not, and in failing to do so they miss out on a lot of opportunity. 

Over time, executives who do great work build relationship equity with a core group of people who will actively advocate for them. These relationships, like all human relationships, are like plants — they need to be watered from time to time or they will die. "Water" in this case is simply staying in touch, preferably in person.

People who neglect these relationships say they don't have time to invest in them. They're so hung up in the short term, day-to-day demands of life they aren't looking out for their own long-term interests.

Here's my prescription for all of you who are failing to maintain your professional networks: Resolve to have breakfast with a former colleague twice a month. 

Breakfast is easy because it usually comes before the workday begins, so there won't be many conflicts. Twice a month may not sound like much, but it's twenty-six meetings per year. You can do that, right?

By the way, if you think this will be a grind you need to adjust your attitude. Reconnecting with former colleagues should be fun. If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.

October 10, 2024

The Power of Listening

I talked the other day with a client to get his feedback on a candidate he had recently interviewed.

“He's an outstanding listener," he told me. "Several times he circled back to an earlier topic to make sure he had answered questions completely. Other interviewers commented on this, too. It really stood out.“

It's remarkable that the simple act of carefully listening to questions and then answering them can make a candidate stand out in the crowd. Yet it does. 

Some people are poor listeners in all aspects of their lives — pity their spouses! Others are passable listeners under normal circumstances, but in an interview are so preoccupied with selling their qualifications that they twist every question into an opportunity to launch a canned sales pitch. 

An interview is a conversation. We all know how frustrating it can be when the person on the other end of the conversation isn't listening.

If you want to nail your next interview, resolve to be a great listener. Listen carefully, and then answer questions directly. You'll immediately put yourself in the top tier of candidates. It's that simple.

September 24, 2024

You Can’t Outsource References

I met a friend last week to trade notes on business. He's a very successful solo consultant in another field.

In the course of our discussion, I explained how critically important references are to the recruiting process, and how labor-intensive it is to do them well.

“Why don't you just outsource that stuff?" he asked. “Anyone could do them with proper instruction. You don't need to be involved. After all, no one gives a bad reference — are they really that valuable?"

His questions revealed his ignorance of recruiting. That's forgivable, since it's not his field. However, the attitudes implicit in his questions are shared by a lot of people who should know better.

Let's take his points one at a time:

• Yes, references really are that valuable. In fact, when done well they are as important as the interview.
• It's true that most people are reluctant to give a bad reference, but they will do so if asked the right questions. And it’s not just about fishing for flaws — whether good, bad or somewhere in the middle, references yield a nuanced picture of the candidate that is always enlightening.
• Outsourcing is not possible if you want to do a good job. The person conducting the references has to know the candidate well, and must have enough seniority to be taken seriously.

Imagine what would happen if you accepted my friend’s assumptions. If you believe references are unlikely to be helpful, it makes perfect sense to delegate them to a low-level person. That would lead to an outcome where the resulting references are useless. In other words, expecting poor results guarantees a poor outcome.

Don’t skimp on references. Doing them well requires a time investment, but there is nothing in recruiting that will yield a richer return.

September 17, 2024

CEOs Beware: You Can’t Fix Governance

Running a company is difficult. Running one with a dysfunctional board of directors is impossible.

Consider these examples, all of which I heard about firsthand in meetings with CEOs:

• A company where directors throw things at one another during board meetings.
• Another where directors rejected the CEO's plan to run a disciplined business, saying to him, "Why choose between options when we could do all of them? Just start, and we will figure out funding later."
• A third company where the board has a decade-long history of poor decision making and undermining management.

If the board is deeply dysfunctional there’s nothing the CEO can do about it. The light bulb doesn’t want to change.

What does that mean for CEO candidates? Due diligence on the board of directors is critical. If there are signs of dysfunction, don't take the position. It’s that simple.

If you've already taken the job and find the board is making success impossible, it's time to leave. Staying would most certainly mean a demoralizing march toward failure and eventual dismissal.

I asked one of those CEOs what he learned from his experience. He said, "“What did I learn? I learned you can’t fix governance.”

September 10, 2024

The Truth About Recruiters Who Say “I Know Everybody”

An executive search resembles a classic sales funnel. A large number of potential candidates enter the top, but only a select few make it through to become finalists.

Some parts of the process are more interesting than others. Most recruiters enjoy working the narrow tip of the funnel, the part where they are consulting with clients and assessing candidates. 

Filling the top of funnel is equally important, but it's incredibly labor-intensive. It requires identifying hundreds of potential candidates, and then calling them. There's a certain challenge in making a compelling presentation of the job opportunity, but the sheer volume of calls can become a grind.

That's why some recruiters try to rationalize skimping on filling the funnel. They tell themselves "I know everybody," and then don't bother to look beyond their own contacts. 

"I know everybody," is shorthand for, "I'll call a few people from my database, but I'm not going to do a lot more than that." It's an excuse to be lazy.

I'm the first to admit that contacts matter a lot, and I think mine are as good as anyone's. But it's absurd for anyone to think they know all the candidates for a given job. Recruiters who want to deliver on their promise to deliver the best candidates must cast a wide net.

The best recruiters I know are grinders. They don't waste time looking for excuses to avoid getting their hands dirty. They know the fastest path to a successful outcome is to pick up the phone and start talking with people.

September 3, 2024

People Skills Trump Everything

OK, the title is a bit of an overstatement, but not by much.

Brains, work ethic, and education are important, but they are never enough. People skills are the grease that enables talents to be productively employed. Leading, managing, and being a good team member all depend on people skills.

In fact, after meeting thousands of executives I’m convinced great people skills are the most important factor in career advancement. Executives who have great people skills advance farther and faster, and have better performance, than their peers.

In contrast, poor people skills is the number one reason careers falter. After all, business is not rocket science. It's rare to find someone whose career stalls because she doesn't have enough raw intelligence or adequate education. But it's common to find people who hit a ceiling because they cannot work well with others.

I firmly believe people skills can be taught and learned. Perhaps our educational institutions, as well as employers, should focus more on teaching the soft skills that are so critical to success.

August 27, 2024

Building the Other Kind of Equity

When people talk about building equity they are usually talking about stock. Who hasn't dreamed of earning a windfall through stock options or founders’ stock?

That’s great, but I’d argue there's another kind of equity that is more important for long-term career success. That’s relationship equity.

I was reminded of the importance of relationship equity a few weeks ago when I joined three former colleagues for dinner. We had a great time trading notes about our work and families. It's been more than 25 years since we worked together, but we still stay in touch and help each other out.

You can think of relationship equity as the group of current and former work colleagues who will go out of their way to help you. Over the course of a career it should grow and grow. In the long run, this group becomes the principal source of new job opportunities, referrals to potential employers and investors, helpful advice, moral support and much more.

The prerequisite for building relationship equity is doing a great job. If you are a mediocre performer, you may build plenty of cordial relationships, but those people are not going to be enthusiastic about hiring you, or referring you to their friends.

But outstanding performance isn’t enough. Relationship equity doesn’t grow all by itself. Like a plant, it needs care and cultivation to grow. That happens by consistently treating people well , being a team player, and not burning bridges. In short, you earn relationship equity by being the kind of person others want to work with and for.

Perhaps the biggest mistake people make is neglecting to maintain relationships with former colleagues. Staying in touch should be fun, and doesn't require much time or effort. Failing to stay in touch means you are squandering one of your most valuable resources.

Are you making an effort to grow your relationship equity? If not, now is a great time to start.

August 15, 2024

Overselling Doesn’t Sell

A few weeks ago, I experienced one of the worst phone interviews I've ever conducted. No sooner had we exchanged pleasantries than the candidate launched into a hard sell. It was an awkward and stilted recitation of the reasons he was the perfect man for the job. It felt like getting pitched by a used car dealer.

The hard sell had the opposite of its intended effect, because it immediately scuttled his candidacy. Why? Consider these reasons:

First, he didn't know anything about my client or the job. How could he know if his background were a perfect fit? His approach was inappropriate and utterly tone deaf.

Second, given he didn't know anything about the situation, how could he know if he even wanted the job? His lack of interest in the particulars made him appear desperate.

In summary, he came off as a terrible salesman who was willing to take any job that provided a paycheck. Those aren’t the kind of people my clients pay me to find.

For candidates, calibrating the right balance of buying and selling can be tough, especially when they are anxious to land a new position. Acting too much like a buyer can make the candidate seem disinterested or arrogant, and acting too much like a seller can make the candidate appear desperate.

What's the right balance? As a recruiter, I get worried when candidates don't ask questions about the company, its growth prospects, its products, and the hiring manager. Without such basic information, how could a candidate know if he wants to invest time in learning more?

August 13, 2024

For Employers, It’s a Buyer’s Market

This year, I’ve been spending a lot more time talking with job seekers. At the height of the pandemic hiring boom, I heard from roughly one job seeker a week, sometimes less. This year I’m hearing from five or six people every day. I’m also talking with more candidates who have been actively looking for a long time.

What’s going on? Job seekers tell me the employment market is much softer than a few years ago. Indeed, there is evidence that the market for professional workers is weaker than the overall unemployment numbers. Business Insider dubbed the current environment a “white collar recession,” and NBC News highlighted the softening market for professionals. 

Who’s Feeling the Pain?
In the medtech world in which I work, the pain is concentrated in these areas:

• Startups, which are experiencing the worst business conditions since the financial crisis. Only the very best startups are getting funded. For people who work at startup companies, the environment feels terrible because it is.
• Money-losing microcaps, which have suffered due to the higher cost of money and a stock market that is punishing poor financial performance.
• Mid-level managers (directors and senior directors) at medium and large companies. Those companies are doing just fine, but many have trimmed pandemic excesses in hiring. Mid-level managers have borne the brunt of these cost-cutting efforts.

What it Means for Employers
All of this means opportunity for companies that need to recruit. It’s the most favorable environment for hiring people since 2019. The quality and quantity of candidates has not been better in years, so it’s a great time to upgrade talent or those difficult to fill positions.

This is a temporary situation that won’t last. Good economic news (especially on interest rates) will tighten the market quickly.

Is your company taking advantage of this buyer’s market? If you need people, there’s no better time to recruit them than right now. 

August 8, 2024

Churning People

I’m a fan of Bill George's excellent book, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. Published 17 years ago, it’s as timely as ever

The book contains a funny anecdote about a well-known CEO who has been through two divorces. The CEO convinces himself that the first divorce was his wife's fault, but after the second divorce he decides he has a wife-selection problem. 

Later, his therapist tells him, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is you do not have a wife selection problem. The bad news is you have a husband behavior problem."

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how this story applies to management. We have all seen situations in which an executive is stuck in a pattern of churning people who work for him. Usually, he is exasperated by his inability to choose good people. Yet in almost every case, the executive himself is the issue.

To adapt the therapist’s assessment, it's not a people selection problem, it's a manager behavior problem.

Effective leaders actively seek advice on how they can get better. Doing so requires a willingness to look honestly at their own shortcomings. It takes a mix of self-confidence and humility to do that.

Insecure leaders can’t take input because they are afraid to admit they aren’t perfect. They are always blaming others when things go wrong. That cripples their ability to improve. They get stuck in a rut, unless—like the CEO in George’s story—personal or professional failures provoke a crisis that forces them to engage in difficult self-examination.

There’s a big lesson in the CEO’s story: It’s the psychological factors that are the biggest obstacle to self-improvement. 

We would all do well to cultivate the habit of constructive self-criticism, and to regularly solicit advice on how we can improve. It’s not easy, but it’s a lot better than the alternative.

August 6, 2024

What I’ve Been Doing

Here's a cross section of some of the recent projects:

• President of a $900M cardiology business.
• General Manager for a developer of components used in medical devices.
• CFO for a clinical trial services company.
• Board member for a developer of wearable robotics.
• VP of Sales for a company offering AI-based medical devices.
• VP of Operations for a company making drug discovery tools.
• VP of Market Development for an orthopedics startup.
• VP of Clinical Operations for an ophthalmology startup.

Clients range in size from raw startups to $2B+ and are located all over the country. They are public, private, and PE- or VC-backed.

Working with such a wide variety of companies and functions is interesting, gratifying, and a lot of fun.

August 1, 2024

The Confidential Search

I went to a very small college that had just over a thousand students. The size was an advantage when it came to academics, but it made for a claustrophobic social environment. After four years, I knew a lot more than I wanted to about many of my schoolmates, even those I had never met. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

There are a lot more people working in medical devices than there were at my college, but it’s still a very small world. News travels fast.

That's one reason I discourage my clients from conducting a so-called confidential search. Those are searches where the identity of the hiring company is kept secret. Usually there is an incumbent in the position, and his manager is afraid to fire him before a replacement is identified.

No search can be hermetically sealed. No matter how well the process is managed, if the search goes on long enough someone will figure out the identity of the company. When that happens, there's a significant risk word will get back to employees, and eventually to the person being replaced. That can create a messy situation. The incumbent will be upset, and the relationship will probably end with bitterness and burned bridges.

But there's another risk. If other employees perceive the incumbent wasn't treated well, they will lose trust in the company. They may say to themselves, "Bob got a raw deal. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if someday I'm treated the same way."

What's the alternative? When possible, full disclosure is best. The incumbent won't like the message, but at least he will know he's been treated in an open and honest way. It also shows other employees that the company treats people fairly, even when things don't turn out well.

There's another advantage to disclosure. I know from experience that it’s more difficult to convince a busy executive to look at a job opportunity when the company cannot be identified. That can push down the candidate yield, which means fewer high quality candidates to consider. The more information you can provide to potential candidates, the better.

Of course, confidential searches can be done successfully. I’ve done many, but it requires disciplined management of the search process and a little bit of luck. I don't recommend taking that path unless it's absolutely necessary. So before you launch a confidential search, ask yourself if you really have to do it that way.

July 29, 2024

The Futile AI Arms Race Between Candidates and Employers

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal describes a frustrating landscape for employers and candidates. The article by Callum Borchers, titled “Landing a Job Is All About Who You Know (Again)," explains how a technological stalemate has driven companies and candidates to good old-fashioned personal referrals and networking to fill positions and find jobs. 

Things used to work pretty well. Back in the 1970s, when my father worked in HR, employers advertised openings in newspapers. Candidates responded by mail with a typed resume and cover letter. Applying took time and effort, so only people who believed they were qualified did it. Companies received a manageable number of quality applications and could give them appropriate time and attention. Sure, the system was slow, but it delivered results.

Not so today. Applying for a job takes only a click, and candidates are clicking with abandon. They have inundated employers in a sea of resumes, far more than HR teams are equipped to evaluate.

As a result, employers have turned to software to screen resumes. Most resumes are never viewed by a human, and applicants almost never hear back from companies. That’s left candidates feeling like their applications go into a black hole. Frustrated by their inability to break through the digital gatekeepers, candidates are now using software to automate applications. 

You can see where this is going. It’s a constantly escalating bot-on-bot war. The dysfunction would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic.

I’m not optimistic things will improve. Technology caused the problem, and now both sides vainly use more technology to fix it. The only winners are the software vendors.

As Borchers points out, there’s great irony in this situation. Technology has pushed employers and candidates back to relying on referrals and networking, which have been the foundation of hiring since the dawn of time. 

I expect referrals and networking will continue to be the best was to hire and get hired, regardless of whatever technology comes next.

July 25, 2024

What Does It Take To Run A Subsidiary?

In the last several years I’ve done a number of searches for presidents of the US subsidiaries of foreign companies. These jobs can be great opportunities. They also present several special challenges.

In no particular order, here they are:

•Knowing how to work with people from different cultures
That doesn't necessarily mean prior experience working for a foreign company, though that usually helps. It could come from experience with family members (like if mom and dad are immigrants) or from living overseas.

•Top-tier communication skills
Communication is always critical, of course, but it's even more important when dealing with a home office that's thousands of miles and many time zones away, and where differences of language and culture can easily lead to misunderstandings.

•Flexibility
Sometimes the parent company wants to do things a certain way because that's just the way they do it. Provided their approach works, you need to go with the flow. Save your energy for issues that really matter to the business.

•Understanding what you can and cannot change
Running a subsidiary means certain key decisions will be made at headquarters. As president, you'll have input, but not final say. You need to be comfortable with that.

If this sounds good to you, consider opportunities to run a subsidiary. Running a subsidiary company can be interesting, fun and extremely rewarding. In our increasingly globalized world, it's also a valuable resume builder.

July 22, 2024

Will Artificial Intelligence Change the Executive Search Business?

Artificial intelligence is the most hyped technological advance since the Internet. Everyone is trying to figure out how they can use AI to make their businesses more efficient. That got me thinking about how AI will change executive search.

My conclusion: It won’t, at least not much.

Let me explain. I see AI as a continuation of a process that’s been going on for three decades. Starting with the introduction of the Internet, new technologies have automated more and more routine recruiting tasks.

Most importantly, technology has made identification of prospective candidates a commodity. Building a target list for a search was once a laborious, time-consuming process. Now it can be done in a few hours using tools like LinkedIn. That simple change gutted the low end of the recruiting market.

What about the high end? Executive search consulting remains a thriving industry. Because the value of executive search has always been in consulting, which resists automation, technology has been our friend. It’s made us more efficient, and that means we can deliver results faster for our clients.

Where’s the unique value in executive search? I think it can be boiled down to three areas, none of which can currently be touched by AI:

• Selling Candidates
  Most of the best candidates are happily employed. Bringing them to the table requires a compelling presentation of an opportunity and a deep understanding of the client’s business. AI isn’t capable of having those conversations. 
   
• Assessing Candidates
  A good executive search consultant is expert at judging “fit.” A deep understanding of the hiring manager’s personality and the client company’s culture enables the consultant to make subtle judgments about who is a great fit and who isn’t. That’s far beyond the capabilities of AI.
   
• Providing Expert Advice
  An executive search consultant is a trusted partner who helps the client identify and solve brewing problems, evaluate the relative strengths of candidates, and manage negotiations. It’s a relationship that simply cannot be replicated with technology.

Will AI ever make a dent in high end professional services like executive search? I don’t think so, at least not in the foreseeable future. If anything, AI will make high touch professional services even more highly differentiated and valued.

Of course, I could be wrong. If the short-term impact of AI is overhyped, it’s long-term effects are likely underappreciated. It will be interesting to see how AI changes our world in the coming decades.

July 19, 2024

The Case for New Blood

The best companies invest in talent and strive to promote from within. Insiders bring knowledge of the business, culture and people that enables them to be productive quickly. 

But promoting from within can be taken too far. Companies that rarely hire from outside become inbred. Among humans, inbreeding brings out undesirable and unhealthy traits, and the same thing happens with companies. They develop a dysfunctional conformity that’s hostile to new ideas and new ways of doing things. 

That's why infusions of new blood are good for business. New people bring new ideas, new perspectives, and different ways of doing things. They are a catalyst to innovation, which is particularly valuable in times of rapid change like the one we are in now. 

What’s the right ratio of internal to external hires? As a rough guideline, I think insiders should be promoted to at least half of open executive positions, and no more than two thirds of them. That means a third to a half of those jobs should go to outsiders. Staying within that range provides desirable continuity with enough new blood to prevent the organization from falling into groupthink. 

Promoting from within is important, but doing it exclusively is a very bad idea. Finding a healthy balance is essential to long term success.

July 16, 2024

The More Things Change: Tips for an Executive Level Job Search

Recently a longtime client, the CEO of a large medical device company, asked me to speak with a former colleague who’s launched a job search. The client said, “I haven’t looked for a job in 15 years and I’m sure everything has changed. I hope you can give him advice on what things are like today.”

That got me thinking. Have things really changed? Would I give different advice today than I would have 15 years ago? The short answer is no, at least for executive level candidates.

It’s true that new technologies have vastly changed recruiting. Some of the new tools have made recruiting more efficient, while others are a sad and comic step backwards (the war between candidate and employer AI bots is the most recent example). The new technologies have primarily affected the recruiting of low and mid-level employees.

For executives, however, little has changed. Looking for an executive level job is still all about leveraging personal relationships. As a result, an executive job search today looks a lot like it did 15 years ago.

Here’s the advice I gave my client’s colleague:

• First, Leverage Your Best Contacts
  Take stock of your network and identify the small group of people who will be your strongest advocates. I’m talking about the people who will go out of their way to help you. Reaching out to them should be your top priority. Let them know you are looking, and don’t be shy about asking for help. If possible, do these meetings in person – asking for help face-to-face always yields better results.
   
• Then, Reach Out to the Rest of Your Network
  Once you’ve covered your strongest advocates, reach out to everyone else in your network. If they don’t know you’re looking, they’re unlikely to think of you when they hear about opportunities.
   
• Make Yourself Easy to Find
  LinkedIn is used universally by executive recruiters and employers. Update your profile. Make sure it’s easy to find by identify the companies you’ve worked for, industries, job titles, and your location. If you’ve had unusual titles that don’t align with conventional categories like marketing or engineering, add language to help people understand your core areas of expertise.
   
• Avoid the HR Black Hole
  Most C-level openings are not publicized, but occasionally you might find a listing that interests you. When that happens, make an application through the requested channels, but don’t stop there. Most submissions to HR go nowhere, so try to identify the hiring manager and reach out directly. The gold standard is a mutual connection who’s willing to make an introduction. 

What has changed? The pace of recruiting is dramatically faster than it was 15 years ago, mostly due to the adoption of video interviewing. If it’s been a long time since you were on the market, be prepared for things to move briskly.

At bottom, the executive job search hasn’t changed much. In the present, as in the past, a successful job search is built on a foundation of personal networking. To get the job you want, make the most of your connections. Along the way, you’ll get to enjoy reconnecting with former colleagues.

October 17, 2023

Meeting the Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz: That's what I call a prospective candidate who's impossible to pin down for a meeting. He claims to be interested, then can't meet for weeks, or reschedules multiple times (always at the last minute). Even phone calls are difficult to book.

Thankfully the Wizard's candidacy never lasts long. That’s because I pull the plug and move on.

Why? Consider some possible explanations for the Wizard’s behavior:

• He’s Not That Interested
  Everyone is busy, and making time is about setting priorities. If a candidate can't find time to meet, she isn't interested enough to be worth my time.
   
• He’s Disorganized
  Some candidates are genuinely interested, but so disorganized they can't make the meeting happen. In their world, every day is a crisis. That’s a fatal flaw for any executive position.
   
• He’s Arrogant
  Others are simply arrogant. They profess interest, then don't reply to messages or continually reschedule meetings. Everyone's time is less important than theirs. Interestingly, the most senior people — that is, the ones who actually are important — never behave this way.

I know many recruiters who wouldn't hesitate to chase the Wizard. Not me. I've been doing this long enough to know that the Wizard isn't as great and wonderful as he thinks he is.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road? No thanks.

October 3, 2023

Recruiting for Enron

Does your company have a reputation problem? If you work for today’s equivalent of Enron, or your last CEO was just indicted, you face special recruiting challenges. Many candidates, perhaps most of them, will shut you out before you can even deliver your message. 

You’ll face similar resistance, though perhaps less severe, if there are other business problems. Maybe revenues are on a well-publicized downward slide, the company is rumored to be an acquisition target, or the government has initiated a high-profile enforcement action due to some real or perceived misdeed. Whatever the reason, candidates wonder whether they’d be signing up for a cruise on the Titanic. 

Approach this problem like a good salesperson. You can’t do anything about the shortcomings of the situation, but you can identify and highlight the positives. Usually the same factors that are driving away candidates can be flipped on their heads and presented as opportunities. For example: 

Revenues have been in a decline. 
We need an executive who can craft and execute a strategy to return the company to growth. 

The FDA shut down our manufacturing facility. 
We’ve made mistakes and are committed to turning things around. We need a leader who can design and implement a new quality system. 

The misdeeds of our old management team caused us to lose trust on Wall Street. 
We need new leadership that can remake our culture and reestablish trust with our investors and business partners. 

Of course, the examples above assume that your company recognizes its problems and wants to do something about them. If that is true, you’re offering an opportunity to turn around a function or a business, and many candidates will find that attractive. 

If the company is on a downward trajectory and there’s no mandate for change, your job will be more difficult. You still must identify the positive attributes of the company and the job opportunity, but your message will be weak. You’ll have to commit yourself to a tough search and grind it out. In addition, you may need to resign yourself to the fact that the job simply is not very attractive, and you may not be able to recruit the quality of candidate you want. 

Excerpted from Mastering the Art of Recruiting (Praeger, 2015)

September 12, 2023

Old School and New School Management

I met with a friend who's been at a new job for about a year. His boss, the CEO, has a reputation for treating employees poorly. I asked him how it's going, and if the CEO’s reputation is well-earned.

“Yes, unfortunately it is," he said. “He's hired some good people, but he doesn't let them do their jobs. He dives into minutiae that a CEO just shouldn't be involved in. The tiniest detail has to be done his way, and if it isn't he's quick to start screaming. It's not a great work environment — it's like a corporate dictatorship.”

This is what I call old school management — though it wasn’t that prevalent even in the old days. Old school management is characterized by a belief that employees are too incompetent, disinterested or lazy to be trusted. They cannot be empowered to operate independently. Since they can't be relied on to do the right thing, the best way to motivate them is through fear.

CEOs who practice this style of management churn executive talent. Further, they hit a ceiling very quickly. For them, leadership is synonymous with control. Since they are unwilling to delegate authority, their businesses stop growing when they hit the point at which one person can no longer make all the important decisions.

Contrast that with new school management. New school management is characterized by a belief that most people take pride in their work and want to do good job. A CEO who adopts the style views himself as the coach of a high-performing team. He takes great care to select the best players, gives them a high degree of autonomy, and then works tirelessly to create the conditions they need to succeed.

New school managers get the most from their people. Their employees, in turn, are happy and want to stick around.

Where would you want to work?

September 5, 2023

Make Incentives Do Their Job

I remember clearly the first time I received an annual bonus. I was grateful for the extra money, but it was also mysterious. No one mentioned the bonus when I was hired. Why had I received one? And more importantly, how could I earn it again? What could I do to earn even more?

Throughout my tenure at the company those questions remain unanswered. Of course, we all assumed bonus payouts had something to do with individual and company performance, but no one explained details. 

In hindsight, my employer missed a great opportunity. The annual bonus created plenty of goodwill, but did nothing to give employees incentives to achieve specific goals. All that money could have had a big impact on employee behavior, but it didn’t.

How then should an annual bonus be set up? There are almost infinite options, and which you choose depends on the specific circumstances of your business. But at a high-level, an effective bonus program should answer the following basic questions:

• What do I have to do to earn a bonus? This should be stated as a clear and succinct set of objectives.
• How much will I earn if I achieve my goals? Define the target value of the bonus.
• What if I do better? What if I do worse? Define what the employee will earn if she overachieves or underachieves. And yes, you must provide an incentive to overachieve if you want people to stretch.

A well-defined bonus program helps employees understand exactly what they need to do. It empowers them and gives them a strong incentive to achieve.

Leave room for discretion. While it's important to have clearly defined objectives, sometimes unexpected events force a change of plan. Give yourself room to push the bonus up or down, or adjust the goals, when it makes sense.

One word of caution — take time and be thoughtful when setting objectives. It's important to get them right, because you will get exactly the behavior you ask for. Giving employees incentives to do the wrong thing is a recipe for disaster

August 29, 2023

Getting Repotted

Houseplants stop growing when they reach the limits of the pots in which they are planted. The vessel is simply too small to supply the nutrients needed for the plant to continue to thrive. Sometimes they even become sick — root bound — if left in the same pot for too long. If the plant is to continue healthy growth, it must be repotted.

You could say the same thing happens to many executives. They reach a point at which their employers can no longer offer advancement or growth opportunities. In order to keep growing professionally, they must move on to a new company, a new pot.

Opportunities can dry up for a variety of reasons that are unrelated to an executive’s performance. Sometimes the business is stagnant or contracting, which means it does not generate new opportunities for its people. In other cases, advancement is blocked by a boss who isn’t going anywhere. Or maybe the next rung on the ladder requires relocation, and the executive cannot or will not consider a move.

In all of these situations executives who want a better opportunity must leave their employer to get it.

Making the decision to leave is always risky. Beware of the trap of assuming the grass is greener somewhere else. Talking it through with a mentor or colleague who knows you, your work and your aspirations is always helpful.

August 22, 2023

Mistakes Will Be Made

Why do so many people have difficulty with recruiting?

One reason is that recruiting can be a psychological minefield.  Recruiting is hard, and an individual who is recruiting for an important position is under a lot of pressure. As a result, many hiring managers get wrapped up in negative emotion. They become paralyzed by self-doubt, and fear of making a bad choice clouds their judgment.

If you find yourself getting emotionally wound up about a recruiting project (and sooner or later everyone does) it can be helpful to remind yourself of two things.

First, recruiting is a lot like golf — that is, perfection is impossible. If you make perfection your goal, you will be chronically frustrated and disappointed, even when you are making great progress. You must give yourself permission to make mistakes.

Second, it might help to imagine what would happen if you made the wrong choice. It may not be as bad as you fear. Hiring the wrong person can be embarrassing, expensive, disruptive, and lead to lost business opportunities. But in all but the most extreme circumstances, you will get through it.

Even the most accomplished CEOs make hiring mistakes all the time — they just make fewer of them than everyone else.

Mistakes will be made. Progress, not perfection, is the right goal.

August 15, 2023

Would You Hire a Psychologist to Assess Candidates?

A while back I met with as HR consultant who works with large companies. In the course of our conversation he remarked, "Many of my clients believe that only a clinical psychologist can be expert in candidate assessment."

I laughed. “Really?” I said. “That strikes me as ridiculous.” It would strike many of my clients as ridiculous, too.

A degree in physical education doesn’t make an athlete, a business degree doesn’t automatically lead to success in business, and a psychology degree does not guarantee its holder has any special insight into people. (In fact, there’s a stereotype that psychologists have below average people skills, but that’s another story.)

Candidate assessment is not a skill people learn in school. It comes from experience. Sure, a psychologist could become an expert in candidate assessment through hard work and practice, just like anyone else, but the degree is irrelevant. In fact, it could be a disadvantage if the psychologist buys into the lie that his degree gives him assessment superpowers.

All this raises an obvious question — why do some people believe this to be true? I don’t have the answer, but suspect it’s related to an aversion to risk and a desire to pass responsibility for decision making to an outside “expert.”

Be deeply skeptical of anyone who claims expertise solely based on letters after her name. When it comes to recruiting, experience trumps everything.

August 8, 2023

Trust Your Gut

What goes wrong when a company makes a bad hire?  That's the question my friend, the CEO of a promising life-sciences startup, wanted to discuss when we had coffee.

He hired a search firm to recruit a managing director for an overseas subsidiary. After the usual months of searching, he found a candidate with an impressive track record and credentials.

The candidate joined the company, but things began to go wrong right away. He showed up late for his first day of employment, and things went downhill from there. After just a few weeks they agreed to part ways. 

The good news is that my friend recognized the problem quickly and took decisive action. But that's not what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to understand where he'd gone wrong, and how he could avoid making the same mistake again.

As we discussed his interactions with the candidate, it became clear my friend had misgivings from the beginning. Something about the candidate just didn’t feel right.

However, he allowed the candidate’s impressive credentials to overrule his concerns. Why? Because he was under intense pressure to fill the job. I bet everyone reading this has made a similar mistake.

I told him, "Don't feel bad — I've made the same mistake myself, and every time it's been the result of not listening to my gut. The good news is that your instincts were good — you just have to listen to them next time.”

Here's the moral: Don’t make the hire if you feel ambivalent about a candidate. Listen to your gut if it tells you something is wrong. If you have the sense that something isn't right, it probably isn’t. Sit back and try to identify the issue, and if it’s a deal killer, move on.

August 1, 2023

A Simple Rule for Diagnosing High Executive Turnover

I recently learned of a company that’s gone through six Vice-Presidents of Marketing in three years. It’s a safe bet their marketing is terrible, since none of the VPs has stayed long enough to get anything done. 

Similar stories are relatively common. That begs the question: What’s behind high executive turnover?

If you ask the leaders who are churning employees, they’ll tell you how hard it is to find good people. Their excuses remind me of an anecdote from Bill George’s book, True North. George tells the story of a CEO who, after divorcing his third wife, visits a therapist to understand why he has a wife selection problem. The therapist says (I paraphrase), “The good news is you don’t have a wife selection problem. The bad news is you have a husband behavior problem.”

And so it is with turnover. As a rule of thumb, when you see a pattern of high turnover at the executive level, the problem can be found one layer above, with the manager. If the position in question is the CEO, then the problem lies with the board. It’s that simple.

It can be tempting to ignore the problem, especially if the person is a high performer in other respects. I think that’s the wrong solution. Leaders who churn employees are chaos agents. High turnover is only the most obvious symptom of the damage they wreak on morale, culture, and corporate reputation. They need to be rehabilitated or replaced. 

Change at the executive level always involves risk. In these cases, the risk is worth taking.

July 25, 2023

Should You Join an Owner-Led Company?

The owner had a great business but needed help to keep it growing. She decided to recruit an executive team to help her guide the company into the future. They performed exceptionally well and made the business stronger than ever.

Then, the owner abruptly changed her mind. She wasn’t comfortable delegating to her team, despite their track record. She fired most of the new executives, and others left on their own. Predictably, the business regressed.

I’ve seen this movie many times at owner operated companies. Many owner/operators lead their companies to great success, but a significant subset are their own worst enemies. Why is this the case?

I think it’s because many owners are conflicted. They profess to want growth, but they’re more interested in control. Growth requires sharing responsibility with other senior leaders, and they can’t bring themselves to do it. They have a compulsion to control everything themselves, even when it hurts their own economic self-interest.

Owners who focus on control always hit a ceiling. Since all decisions must go through them, eventually they run out of bandwidth. Usually that happens in the $10M-$40M revenue range, though sometimes it’s much earlier. Their businesses stagnate.

Candidates evaluating executive positions at owner operated companies should approach opportunities with a healthy degree of skepticism. Ask probing questions, be on the lookout for red flags, and don’t be afraid to ask the owner directly if he’s ready to delegate. Reference the owner, preferably with people who’ve worked for him, to get a sense of his working style and the company culture he has created.

Exhaustive due diligence will help candidates distinguish owner operated businesses that have real potential from those that don’t. 

July 18, 2023

Back to the Office: Boiling the Frog

At a recent dinner with a group of medical device CEOs and HR leaders, we spent a lot of time talking about hybrid work and its place in the future. It was an interesting discussion.

Without exception, the CEOs expressed deep dissatisfaction with hybrid work and looked forward with impatience to bringing people back to the office full-time. Most had employees in the office three days a week, with plans to make it four days starting later in the year. After that, they’d like to make it five.

Why aren’t they bringing everyone back right now? There are several reasons. First, they’re afraid of getting too far in front of the pack and losing employees. One CEO said, “I want to bring everyone back full-time, but I’m not leading the charge. I want to be a follower.”

Second, they want to avoid disruption. There was a consensus that abruptly forcing people back to the office full-time and would be too unpopular with employees. So, they will do it in steps.

In short, the plan is to boil the frog. Companies will bring most people back to the office full-time, but they’ll do it gradually. Any softening in the economy that gives employers leverage could accelerate the process.

Yes, there will be plenty of exceptions. Remote work taught us that some functions can be done as well, or even better, remotely, but that’s a minority of jobs. Most employees will be going back to the office full-time. That will be a return to normal for older workers, and a mildly shocking change for young ones.

July 11, 2023

A Tale of Two Markets for Medical Device Executives

After two record years for executive recruiting in medical devices, the market is modestly slower. There’s still plenty of recruiting going on, but it’s nowhere near the overheated extremes of 2021.

The overall healthy level of activity, however, masks a deep division in the market. One sector continues to thrive, while another is severely depressed. Here’s my take on what’s going on.

The market can be divided into two parts: Companies that need to raise money and those that don’t. Profit making companies with established businesses are doing quite well. On the other side, startups and other money-losing companies are in in an exceptionally difficult environment. 

For that first group – the established, money-making companies —conditions in 2023 have improved. Pandemic disruptions are in the rearview mirror, and hospital operations have returned to normal. Supply chain issues have largely been resolved and inflation is slowing down. For the first time in several years, these businesses are in a stable environment. Executive recruiting at these companies is strong.

Companies that need to raise money, however, face the worst environment in years. The highest quality startups continue to be funded, but everyone else is in trouble. Worst off are those that raised a lot of money in the past and are still far from breakeven. Many of them won’t exist a year from now. Naturally, these companies have dramatically cut back on hiring at all levels.

The pain among money-losing companies is a necessary purge of excesses that built up over the last several years. My track record with predictions is not great, but I think we are near the bottom and will begin to see improvement in the fourth quarter. Then, emerging companies will be poised for another cycle of strong investment and growth.

All the changes we’ve seen this year are part of a return to a more balanced employment market. That will be good for employers and employees.

August 17, 2022

Young Office Workers Are in for a Rude Awakening

If you started your career after 2012, you’ve enjoyed one of the best employment markets in history. With few exceptions (for example, hospitality industries during the pandemic) it’s been a great ride.

But clouds are on the horizon. Sooner or later, we are going to have a recession. When that happens, young office workers will be in for a very rude awakening indeed. They’ve never experienced a recession and have no idea what a poor employment market looks like.

Hint: It’s nothing like the overheated market of the last 18-24 months. Workers have become accustomed to an endless supply of jobs and unprecedented freedom to work when and where they please. When the music stops, everything will change.

In fact, change has already started. While the overall employment market remains strong, there’s been a meaningful slowdown in hiring in some sectors of the economy. The worst excesses of the recent employment bubble have begun to dissipate. 

When a recession comes, I believe we’ll see a return to something more like pre-pandemic norms. Companies will have more leverage to define how work gets done. Hybrid work is probably here to stay, but remote work will decline dramatically.  Having more workers in the office will enable companies to develop younger employees, build stronger teams, and strengthen company culture.

Employees will be driving the changes, too. In a weakened labor market, employees will want to be back in the office where they can build deeper relationships, learn faster, benefit from mentors, and get noticed by higher-ups. 

I’m a recruiter, so my business has benefited from the recent bubble. However, it’s been clear for quite some time that the market was overheated and unhealthy. A return to a more balanced labor market will be a good thing for companies, employees, and the overall economy.

June 7, 2022

EPISODE 12

May 7, 2022

EPISODE 11

April 7, 2022

EPISODE 10

March 7, 2022

EPISODE 9

February 7, 2022

EPISODE 8

January 14, 2022

To Recruit in This Market, Move Fast or Don’t Bother Trying

The employment market is as hot as it’s been in my lifetime. Candidates are in the driver’s seat. The best of them have many opportunities, and they go off the market quickly. Even a subpar candidate can find a new job in short order.

What’s my biggest challenge in this environment? It’s getting clients to move faster. I spend a lot of time persuading, pushing, and pleading with clients to speed things up.

To be clear, most have stepped up their game. What does that mean? It means they’re providing prompt feedback on candidates, scheduling interviews quickly, and making decisions fast. In short, they are making recruiting their top priority.

Critically, speed does not mean lowering standards. They’re following their established processes and doing everything they usually do to assess candidates. They’re just doing it faster and with a heightened sense of urgency. 

Dithering and pushing things off until tomorrow is a prescription for failure. In this market, every day matters. If you are dragging your feet, you will lose most of your candidates. In the long run, you’ll end up doing twice the work and getting half the results.

Not long ago, I heard an interview with Greg Norman, who said a key to his success has been his compulsion to get things done right away. His mantra is, “Do it now and do it properly.” He can’t stand putting something off to tomorrow that can be done today.

Every hiring manager would benefit from emulating Norman’s approach. When there’s something to be done, do it now. If you’re not willing to put recruiting on the top of your to do list, don’t bother trying.

January 13, 2022

EPISODE 7

October 5, 2021

EPISODE 6

August 24, 2021

EPISODE 5

August 23, 2021

EPISODE 4

April 12, 2021

EPISODE 3

April 1, 2021

The HR Market is Hot. Thank the Pandemic

During the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, HR executives took it on the chin. At many companies, HR leaders orchestrated mass layoffs, and then were laid off themselves.

Not this time. These are the glory days for HR. The pandemic has driven demand for HR executives to a level I’ve never seen before.

Why? Because the pandemic forced companies rapidly to reorganize how business gets done. That indispensable work has been led by HR. 

Last year, HR leaders helped companies rapidly transition to working at home. They established a host of new policies to guide the new way of working. They were critical in defining strategies for keeping employees happy and engaged.

Today, with the end of the pandemic in sight, HR is at the center of discussions as companies consider how they will return to the office. The last year has proven that remote workers can be very productive, and many employees like it. Given those facts, should companies require everyone to return to the office, or find a hybrid approach that tries to achieve the best of both worlds? Every company is grappling with these questions, and HR is leading the conversation.

We’re in the early stages of a historic change in how work gets done. The office isn’t going away, but its role is being redefined. I expect it will require several years of experimentation before companies settle into new ways of working.

Until then, expect demand for HR professionals to stay very high.

March 25, 2021

So You Think You Want to Work in a Startup?

Many people think they want to work in a startup. Most of them are wrong.

Here’s a recent candidate story to illustrate the point. My client was a small and fast-growing medical device company with ambitions to quintuple revenues in the coming years. It’s an incredibly exciting business.

On paper, the candidate (I’ll call him Henry) met all the client’s requirements for skills and experience. In addition, he said the right things about wanting to work in a small, high-growth environment. This, Henry said excitedly, was exactly the kind of opportunity he was looking for! 

Until he called me a couple of days after our first conversation. He asked what kind of severance the company was willing to offer.

Severance is a common topic, but it usually comes up much later. Asking at the beginning was a huge red flag. The best candidates ask detailed questions about the business, the challenges it faces, the personalities of the management team, and forecasted growth. Henry’s focus on severance demonstrated he was more interested in security than opportunity.

After a brief follow-up discussion, it became clear he was far too risk-averse for a startup. I politely told him we could not move forward. At a startup, having the right mentality is table stakes. Further discussion would have wasted everyone’s time.

Our culture puts entrepreneurs on a pedestal. Startups are celebrated as glamorous pathways to riches. No one talks about how hard they are. No wonder so many people fantasize about working at startups. They think they would love it.

Most of them are dead wrong. They don’t understand the grinding work, the constant setbacks, and the perpetual risk of failure. When they find out what it really takes, they flee back to the perceived security of a big company.

Startups are incredibly rewarding, but they are not for everyone. If you aspire to work in a small, entrepreneurial company, look inside yourself and make sure you have the stomach for it.

February 25, 2021

EPISODE 2

February 8, 2021

Video Series

January 29, 2021

How to Land Your First Board of Directors Seat

Many successful executives aspire to serve on an outside board. Sometimes the motivation comes from within, and other times (especially for active CEOs) their own boards encourage sitting on an outside board for professional development.

Whatever the motivation, how can you land that first board seat? It’s a lot more difficult than it looks, and a brief consideration of the dynamics of a board search explain why.

The board’s nominating committee has formal responsibility for identifying board candidates, but in practice most CEOs direct the selection of new board members with a firm hand. So, consider what the CEO wants.

The CEO has two objectives. First is finding a person who will make a meaningful contribution. What that means depends on the needs of the moment. Usually, the board targets a specific set of skills — for one board seat they may look for a financial expert who can serve on the audit committee, for another they may seek someone with commercial expertise, and so on.

 Second, the CEO wants to avoid recruiting a jerk. Recruiting a disruptive board member is the CEO’s worst nightmare. There are a number of behaviors that can make a board member earn the “jerk” title:

• Failure to understand the line between governance and management.
• Pontificating on subjects that are outside of his area of expertise.
• Antisocial behavior: disrespectful treatment of management and other board members, yelling, and so on.

Caution rules the day. One wrong move and the CEO could end up with a board member who makes life miserable and is almost impossible to get rid of. How does this affect the search for new board members? 

First, trust matters a lot, which translates into a heavy bias toward candidates the CEO knows, or who are known to a trusted colleague. 

Second, first time board members are viewed as particularly risky because they haven’t been in a governance role before. There’s a fear that first-time board members will drift over the line into management.

If you’re seeking your first board of directors seat, the odds are overwhelming that it will come through someone you know. You need to identify opportunities where you’re already known and trusted by some of the key players. It follows that the best strategy for finding a board seat is to talk with all of your closest colleagues. Make sure they know that you are interested in joining a board, and remind them regularly. It will take some time, but this strategy will pay off.

January 29, 2021

Predictions for the 2021 Executive Employment Market

My track record of predicting the future is no better than else’s — which is to say, it’s not very good. But that doesn’t stop me from making predictions. Here are mine for the 2021 executive employment market in medical devices.

In short, I think the first quarter will have solid and steady executive hiring, but nothing remarkable. Starting at the beginning of the second quarter, however, I foresee a rapid acceleration of executive hiring as the coronavirus is brought under control and companies dial up spending.

Here’s more detail on my thinking:

To set the table, let’s review 2020. The year began with an employment market that was red-hot. It stayed that way until the coronavirus lockdowns began in mid-March. Since March, the market for executives has remained remarkably solid, albeit not at the heated levels that started the year. 

The solid market, however, masks the uneven effects of the pandemic on device companies. Those with products used to manage the pandemic — diagnostics, PPE, ventilators — have experienced a windfall, and many have increased the pace of executive hiring. On the other extreme, those with products for elective or nonemergency procedures have suffered, with sales riding the ups and downs of coronavirus hospitalizations.

As we begin 2021, I read the overall mood as optimistic, but cautious. Optimistic, because the underlying economy has remained remarkably strong. Cautious, because the last 10 months have taught us that progress against the virus is fraught with uncertainty. The emergence of new, more contagious variants is the latest wildcard.

Only progress against the virus will dial back uncertainty and put optimism in the driver’s seat. Fortunately, that’s about to happen. Within weeks, vaccinations will be happening at a rapid pace. That means the end of the pandemic will be in sight. Optimism will get the upper hand.

When that happens, I expect the hot executive employment market to return with a vengeance. Companies will rapidly increase investment in anticipation of growth. And that means hiring more executive level talent.

Could I be wrong? Of course – I certainly didn’t see a global pandemic coming when we began 2020. But I believe my optimism is rooted in reality. A year from now we’ll know if I’m right.

January 14, 2021

“Ghosting” Candidates? You’re Committing Reputational Suicide

Recently, I called a prospective candidate to pitch a great opportunity. He stopped me when he learned the name of my client and said he would never consider working there. 

Why? He’d interviewed with the company in the past and was treated poorly. After meeting seven people, no one ever contacted him about the status of his candidacy, nor did anyone reply to his messages requesting an update. As my kids would say, he was “ghosted.”

If this were a single data point, I wouldn’t be terribly concerned. No one is perfect, and people and organizations make mistakes. But it wasn’t one data point – it was the third time in six months I’d heard similar stories about the same client. That’s a pattern.

Companies that don’t treat candidates well eventually earn a reputation that repels talent. The damage is difficult to quantify, but it’s meaningful. Over time it will hurt your business, and the worst part is that you will probably never become aware of it.

What’s the root of the problem? It’s not a lack of knowledge — no one needs training to know that a candidate who’s been through seven meetings deserves the courtesy of a clear answer on the status of her candidacy. Heck, that’s basic manners that all of us (hopefully) learned as children.

The root of the problem, I believe, is discomfort in telling people bad news. This is completely normal for anyone who feels empathy. I know this is true because I’ve delivered bad news to candidates every day for more than twenty years, and despite all that practice it’s still my least favorite part of the job. 

Yet I do it, both for professional reasons (I want candidates to feel good about dealing with me and my client) and for personal reasons (it's the right thing to do).

If you’re leading a company, make sure everyone in the organization knows they are expected to treat candidates with respect and courtesy. They must understand they are acting as ambassadors for the company each time they interact with a candidate. 

What’s the goal? Win or lose, candidates should leave feeling good about the way they were treated. When this is done consistently, your company will earn a reputation for treating people well. That kind of positive reputation can make your company a talent magnet.

January 1, 2021

EPISODE 1

The misconception is that recruiting is finding people. There’s so much more involved. In this 2.5 minute video I debunk the myth and explain what’s involved in finding the perfect candidate.

November 30, 2020

The Curse of the Superstar

When it comes to teams, superstars aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

Take Kyrie Irving, the immensely talented basketball player who spent two years with my local team, the Boston Celtics. He had a mixed track record with his prior employer, the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Celtics management hoped he would mature and blossom into a leader upon whom they could build a great team.

The plan was a catastrophic failure. To put it politely, Irving did not mature. He was toxic, a sort of anti-leader whose ego, insecurities and poor interpersonal skills made the team worse. When he left, the Celtics improved immediately.

There are countless examples of athletes like Irving who have elite skills but subtract from the success of their teams. You could call it the curse of the superstar.

The same phenomenon exists in business. We’ve all encountered brilliant executives who ruin everything they touch. They destroy teams and performance because they focus only on themselves – their success, their reputation, their ideas. They don’t understand that leading means putting the team first.

Of course, superstars don’t have to be toxic. I’m old enough to remember the great Celtics teams of the early 1980s. They played and won as a team, exploiting each other’s strengths to the fullest. Their best player, Larry Bird, always put the team first. Bird made everyone around him better, and the Celtics were consistent winners.

Now that’s a real superstar.

November 19, 2020

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Businesses have done a great job adapting to a challenging environment this year, and many are thriving. But it’s obvious they’d be doing even more and investing more aggressively if coronavirus weren’t here. It’s created great economic uncertainty.

Now, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. As everyone knows by now, both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have announced exceptionally promising early data from clinical trials of their vaccine candidates. Barring unforeseen negative surprises, it’s likely both will receive emergency authorizations, which will bring the vaccines to patients.

Many other vaccines are in late stage trials, so there are likely to be more successes. With multiple vaccines, we can expect widespread vaccinations in 2021. There’s a strong chance the pandemic will be over by the end of next year.

That’s reason for great optimism as we look forward. With the end of the pandemic in sight, businesses will spend more freely in order to position themselves for the recovery.

We still have to get through the winter, of course, and that may be tough. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and that’s great news.

October 30, 2020

Where Should European Startups Place the US Office?

Back in the early days of my career I ran international marketing for a specialty computing company. For a short while, we faced competition from a tough German startup. 

They weren’t a problem for long. The story goes that the founder went to his bank for a loan to support the company’s rapid growth. (Venture capital wasn’t an option, as it was poorly developed in Europe in those days). The banker told the founder he didn’t need money, he just needed to stop growing so fast.

Times have changed, and today Europe boasts a robust startup culture. Each year, it seems a larger percentage of the most interesting new medical device technologies are coming from Europe. All of those companies, if successful, will eventually open a US office.

The reasons are obvious. The US is the largest global market, so success here is a business imperative. But there’s more to it than that — companies also want to tap American investors and often aspire to go public in the US.

But where to open that US office? All of my European clients wrestle with that question. Usually it becomes a question of East versus West.

The West has its attractions. Many Europeans view California through rose colored glasses, and they frequently find the prospect of joining the Bay Area startup scene seductive.

But then reality intrudes. The costs of setting up in California, both for real estate and talent, can be sobering. In addition, there are countless inconveniences that come with establishing an office in a place that’s a 10-hour flight and 9 time zones away.

That’s why most European (and Israeli) startups establish their US offices on the East Coast. Flights are shorter and plentiful, the time zone difference can be easily managed, and there is abundant talent, particularly in the Boston medical device cluster. In fact, although European startups establish offices up and down the East Coast, most of them end up in Boston.

If your European startup is looking to set up a US office, the East Coast is the practical choice.

October 8, 2020

Will Remote Work Go Mainstream After the Pandemic? Don’t Count On It

Thank goodness for the technology that's enabled all of us to do remote work. It’s getting us through the pandemic with a minimal loss in productivity.

In fact, remote work has been successful beyond anyone’s expectations, so much so that many pundits proclaim remote work will become mainstream even when the pandemic is over. They point to a number of advantages, like access to more and better talent.

I’m not buying it. Yes, remote work brings some advantages, but they are far outweighed by the downsides. Consider:

• Culture. How do you build and maintain culture when employees are not working in the same place? And how do you acculturate new employees, many of whom are working with colleagues they have never met in person? Culture falls apart when colleagues don’t have an opportunity to work together in the real world.
   
• Relationships. Personal relationships are the grease that makes doing business easier. Relationships formed in the virtual world are qualitatively inferior to those built face-to-face. Remotely connected colleagues have weaker ties to one another. Outside relationships, particularly with new customers, are much harder to develop. It’s tough to build trust on a screen.
   
• Mentoring. I worry particularly about the development of junior employees. People learn from observing their managers and colleagues, and from the countless informal interactions that happen when people work in the same place. There’s a real risk of stunted career growth for these individuals.

A recent Wall Street Journal article that polled CEOs on remote work highlighted these same concerns. The comment of Arne Sorensen, the CEO of Marriott, was typical: “…remote work clearly works for many things, but I think we’re going to find that being together delivers value in productivity and creativity and relationships that is irreplaceable.” Amen.

Until things get better, we’ll keep doing our best with the tools we’ve got. But once the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, my bet is that most companies will return to their pre-pandemic routines. 

August 20, 2020

Starting a New Job When You Can’t Go to the Office

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, most employees at medical device companies are still working from home. With recruiting continuing at a healthy pace, newly recruited executives face a challenge they haven’t seen before: How do you come up to speed when you can’t meet colleagues in-person or go to the office? 

In recent weeks, I’ve talked with people I’ve recruited to new jobs during the pandemic to hear how they’ve managed these new challenges. They gave a consistent message on what it takes to successfully transition in this new environment.

First, focus on building relationships. Relationships are the grease that makes business run smoothly, and building them virtually takes a new playbook. My recruits figured out who they needed to meet, and then scheduled time with them for one-on-one video or audio calls. They check in with their new colleagues regularly, since personal interaction in the virtual world never happens by accident.

There’s a silver lining, too. Several people told me they’ve spent more quality time with a broader cross section of colleagues than they would have if they were in the office. That’s because being remote forces new executives to figure out how to manage relationships in a disciplined and programmatic way.

Second, develop a plan to come up to speed on the business and your functional area as quickly as possible. This is challenging without the benefit of the osmosis that happens from immersion in the office.

The executives I spoke with figured out what they needed to know and who could help them learn. Then, they were politely assertive in asking for time from their bosses and colleagues. Remember, remote work is new to hiring managers, too, and they are unlikely to understand what new employees need to be successful. As the new employee, you need to be a squeaky wheel.

The goal, of course, is to build relationships and competence rapidly, and then quickly make a contribution.

Most of us miss face-to-face interaction, but it’s not coming back anytime soon. In the meantime, we have to use the tools we have. The good news is that these tools are incredibly effective when used the right way. Just ask those successful executives who started a new job during the pandemic. 

June 25, 2020

Executive Hiring is Picking Up Steam

Executive hiring is bouncing back. After a brief slowdown immediately following the first US coronavirus lockdowns, companies are ramping up hiring again. That’s great news.

That’s not just my view. Earlier this week, the New York Times featured an article on the recovery in executive hiring, noting a “reawakening in hiring for executive positions.“ (You can find the article here, but access may be limited by the NYT paywall).

To be sure, the snap back in executive hiring is not universal. Industries that have been most affected by the coronavirus crisis (travel, hospitality, and so on) remain dead in the water. However, many others are doing just fine and hiring at a solid pace.

In the medical device industry there is strong progress, although it’s uneven. Companies that make products for any type of critical care are doing fine and hiring executives at a solid pace, while those that depend on elective and non-emergency procedures remain extremely cautious.

Of course, the economic environment remains uncertain, and everyone, even companies that are doing well, is approaching spending (including hiring) with a heightened sense of caution. No one knows how the coronavirus story will unfold or when it will end. Nevertheless, the recent recovery in executive hiring is an encouraging sign that we are headed in the right direction.

June 17, 2020

Now is the Best Time in Years to Upgrade Your Team

2020 has brought many challenges, but it’s also created new opportunities. For CEOs, perhaps the biggest silver lining to the current downturn is improved access to talent. In short, the labor market has unfrozen, making this the best time in years to upgrade your executive team.

Everyone who’s hired people in the last five years knows what I’m talking about. The market for talent was overheated, making it more difficult than ever to hire and retain great people.

Now, the tables have turned. Since early March, I’ve seen clients hire great people who would not have considered a change at the start of the year. Candidate pools have suddenly become much stronger.

Why is this the case? More candidates are open to change for a variety of reasons. Some are concerned about the health of their current employers. Others are unhappy they've been forced to take a pay cut. Still others are re-examining their careers and have decided it’s time for something new.

Look at your own executive team. Is this the group you need to lead your company through the coming years? You should be happy with 90% of your executives. If you’re not, there will never be a better time than now to fix it.

May 8, 2020

What has COVID-19 Done to the Market for Executive Talent?

Not long ago, the market for medical device executives was red hot. Things have changed a lot in the last 8 weeks. 

Today, parts of the executive market remain strong, but the big picture is mixed. COVID-19 has caused a lot of damage, but its effects aren’t evenly distributed. Some companies continue to thrive and are hiring as fast as ever, while others have cut back dramatically. 

Who continues to hire? Companies that supply products essential for the fight against COVID-19, are thriving, as are those that supply products for emergency procedures, which must continue. In addition, startups that recently raised money and don’t have products in clinical trials are continuing to execute to the plans they developed before the crisis.

Where have things slowed? Companies that rely on non-emergency procedures aren’t hiring. They have seen huge declines in revenue, forcing many to furlough employees, freeze hiring, and make (hopefully) temporary cuts in compensation. 

Another group that’s suffering are startups that need to raise money in the next few months. They suddenly find themselves facing a tough investment climate. They’re cutting back to conserve cash. Some have already gone under.

I see the full range of effects within my own client base. A few continue to hire aggressively. Others have hunkered down until we return to something like normal.

We’ll see what happens in the coming months. Forecasts for the virus and the economy are all over the map. That uncertainty is making it tough for businesses to plan. I don’t expect meaningful improvement until there’s more clarity on where this is going.

October 16, 2019

How to Conduct a Great Interview

Why have so many managers failed to master this fundamental skill? It's simple: they're never taught how to do it. Most companies don't realize their employees need help. On the surface, interviewing looks like a simple skill that doesn't require training. In truth, interviewing is complex, and the consequences of doing it poorly are expensive.

October 16, 2019

The Art of Referencing

There's universal agreement that diet and exercise are the key to good health, but few people have the discipline to change their habits. Similarlt, everyone agrees that references are critically important to the hiring process, yet very few people do them in a seriouss way.

October 16, 2019

Recruiting for the Board of Directors

In today's challenging business environment companies must exploit every competitive advantage. One of the most important is having a skilled and engaged board of directors.

October 16, 2019

A Guide to Identifying, Assessing & Contracting with Executive Search Firms

Hiring them, however, is easier said than done. The best are rare, difficult to find and hard to attract. Competition for them is intense. When companies need to recruit the best executive talent, they retain an executive search consultant. Executive search consultants identify the best candidates, thoughtfully assess their strengths and weaknesses, and artfully persuade them to consider the client's opportunity.

October 26, 2017

Moving Target Syndrome

Everyone knows it’s hard to hit a moving target.

In the world of recruiting, there’s a common problem I call Moving Target Syndrome (let’s call it MTS). In the classic presentation of MTS, the hiring company keeps changing direction. One week they’re looking for candidates with this profile, next week they’re looking for candidates with that profile, and the following week it’s something else.

Naturally, constantly moving the target makes it nearly impossible to hit the bull’s-eye. These recruiting projects tend to go on forever, and frequently end in failure.

How do you know if you have MTS? If you’ve interviewed a long parade of candidates and none of them is right, you probably have it. Things won’t get better unless you make some changes.

Fortunately, the cure is straightforward. Once you recognize the problem, immediately pause the search. Take a few days to re-examine the candidate specification, and eliminate the areas of ambiguity that have been handicapping you. If key players don’t agree, get them in a room and hash it out until you reach consensus.

Then, with a solid candidate specification in hand, get back to work. You’ll discover it’s much easier to find what you want when you know what you’re looking for.

October 18, 2017

Video Conferencing

Videoconference is great for a call with your mom. But it’s not great for judging candidates, or for convincing them to join your company.

I understand why Skype and its peers are increasingly popular for interviewing. Everyone wants to save time, and hiring people is among the most time-consuming of business activities. Why not get more efficient?

That argument would make perfect sense if videoconferencing were as good as a face-to-face meeting, but it’s not. Consider the following:

Poor lighting, cameras, and audio conspire to make everyone look bad.

Most people don’t act like themselves in front of a camera. They’re unnatural and stilted, making it impossible to get a true impression of their personality and personal style.

Just as it’s difficult to judge candidates, it’s difficult for them to judge you. Since one of the major objectives of a first conversation is to sell the candidate, this puts the hiring manager at a strong disadvantage.

A lot of communication — perhaps most — is nonverbal, and it’s very subtle. You don’t get it on video. Yet because videoconferencing provides the illusion of meeting in person, it’s easy to draw conclusions that are dead wrong.

Here’s an example. Recently a client met a candidate over a video call, and came away believing the candidate was mediocre and low energy. Nevertheless, he decided to meet the candidate in person. When he did, he had a completely different opinion. He told me, “I thought he was low-energy, but he’s really energetic and a no-BS guy. I really like him!”

If you like videoconferencing, go ahead and use it. But don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s a substitute for in-person meetings. It can lead you to conclusions that are completely wrong. You can’t make good judgments about someone’s personality from a disembodied head on a video screen.

Put aside the idea that you can cut corners with videoconferencing, and make time for face-to-face meetings. Inevitably, this will involve more time and expense, but it’s well worth it. Not doing so puts you at high risk of hiring the wrong person.

October 5, 2017

Theranos: When Smart People do Stupid Things

The Wall Street Journal continues to report on the saga of Theranos, the former Silicon Valley darling that continues its epic self-immolation.

On March 24, Christopher Weaver and John Carreyrou reported that Theranos is offering investors additional shares in return for an agreement not to sue the company or its founder, the disgraced Elizabeth Holmes. According to the article, Rupert Murdoch didn’t like the deal and decided to sell his stake, for which he paid $125M in 2015, back to the company for $1.

I’d wager that when this is over, Theranos will be worthless. If I’m right, Murdoch got $1 more than his stake was worth.

People will be writing books about this for the next decade.

April 20, 2017

The Job Market Is Hot. What Does That Mean for Employers?

If you’re a hiring manager, you know the job market is as hot as it’s been in years. Competition for talent is intense. That means it’s harder to attract great new employees, and harder to keep the ones you already have.

What does that mean for you? Here are some things to think about:

First, defend what you’ve got. Make sure your top performers know how much they’re valued, and make sure you are doing what you can to keep them happy.

When recruiting, make thoughtful, considered decisions, but don’t dither. These days candidates have lots of opportunities, and delay often means losing a great candidate.

Don’t be pressured into hasty decision making, or cut corners on your hiring process. Hiring decisions made in haste tend to be bad. Instead, accelerate recruiting by putting it at the top of your priority list.

Don’t throw money at the problem. If you have a compensation plan that makes sense, stick to your guns. Overpaying creates all kinds of problems downstream.

Good luck!

April 19, 2017

When Should You Share Personal Information in an Interview?

The candidate had a solid background, but there were some strange transitions on his resume. He’d landed a big overseas posting with a prestigious company, then abruptly left a year later for a lesser position back in the US. It didn’t make sense, and I assumed he was fired.

I asked the candidate what happened, and he gave me a response I wasn’t expecting.

“My only child was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He was in his twenties. I had to get back to the States, so I immediately quit and got a job near him. After he passed away, I moved on to a better job in a new city.”

I felt for him and appreciated his honesty. Of course, his explanation put all my concerns about the job transitions to rest.

To be sure, it can be difficult and uncomfortable to share intimate details of one’s life with a stranger. But there are times, like this one, when it is necessary. Sometimes personal considerations — illness, death, divorce, disability — drive decisions about work, and it’s impossible to adequately explain one’s past actions without revealing some personal details.

Think hard, however, before you decide to talk about challenges you are facing in the present. You don’t need to give prospective employers reason to question your ability to devote your full time and attention to the job.

April 13, 2017

It's all About People

Back in September, I attended MassDevice DeviceTalks Boston. As usual, the MassDevice folks put on a terrific program.

One of the featured speakers was Jeff Burbank, Founder and CEO of NxStage Medical, the dialysis company. In a candid interview, he talked about the company’s growth, and the challenges he faced along the way.

In one particularly enlightening exchange, Burbank underlined the challenge of identifying and recruiting the right people. Here are his remarks (many thanks to Brad Perriello of MassDevice for the transcript):

MassDevice:

What […] were some of the things you thought about to create a great company? What were some of the ingredients you thought that that cake needed?

Jeff Burbank:
People, people, people. I think everybody likes to make it about technology, markets, those things. It’s not, […] it’s about putting together the best team you can possibly put together because people solve problems. People find markets. People make production work. It’s all about people and creating an environment where successful people, talented people can be successful. They’ll push you and they’ll drive you and sometimes even drive you nuts, but it’s all about people.

MassDevice:
Do you remember some of the mistakes you made early on?

Jeff Burbank:
How long is this? […] Yeah, it takes you a while to figure out how to identify and motivate good people. Getting through an interview process and understanding are they real? Can they get things done? You can’t hide in a startup or a fast-growing company…

As Burbank spoke, I noted many of his fellow CEOs in the audience nodding in agreement. Like Burbank, they’ve lived with good and bad hires, and struggled to learn how to tell the difference.

Identifying the right people is hard. I think it’s the hardest thing any manager does. But nothing is more important. You get better at it with experience.

In Burbank’s words, “People, people, people.”

April 4, 2017

Interviewing for the CEO Job? Think Like an Owner

I’m recruiting a CEO for a medical device company that’s owned by a private equity firm. Last week, I was talking with one of the partners about his phone call with one of the candidates.

He said, “The thing that distinguished this guy were his questions. They showed he thinks like an owner. It’s incredibly powerful. In fact, you should tell candidates to do that because it really sets them apart.”

Now I’ve told you.

October 19, 2016

How not to Network

Networking is easy — except when you make it hard on yourself.

Last month I ran into a medical device executive I’ve known for a couple of years (let’s call him Peter). He’s considering a job change and a couple months earlier asked me for a few referrals.

“How’d it got with those introductions?” I asked.

“I never got in touch with them,” he replied. “I’ve been so busy.”

I was mildly annoyed. He’d asked for introductions with a sense of urgency. I guess it wasn’t that urgent after all.

Job seekers, and everyone else who has occasion to ask for a professional introduction, take note.

When you ask for a referral, you are asking someone to take time and expend relationship equity with the individuals you want to meet. It’s not a big deal, but it’s not trivial, either.

Asking for a referral and then not following up is a cardinal sin. You’ve wasted the time and goodwill of the person from whom you requested the favor. You can only make that mistake once, because you won’t get help a second time.

I’m sure Peter will be back with another request. But next time, I won’t be nearly so eager to help.

October 13, 2016

Is this the Way to Remove Bias in Hiring?

Business Insider reported on a presentation by Kennedy School Professor Iris Bohnet at the Financial Times Women at the Top Conference in London. She spoke about decreasing bias in hiring.

Bias is a real problem, and not just for candidates who are disadvantaged by it. Bias is a problem for employers, who can end up passing on superior candidates when unrecognized bias leads to selection of the wrong person. That hurts the bottom line.

The article quotes Bohnet:

“Panel interviews (when a candidate sits across from a line of interviewers) need to stop,” said Prof. Bohnet, who is also the author of “What Works: Gender Equality By Design.”

“Why? — These three people will not come up with independent assessments of the candidate. They will influence each other, so you are wasting that person’s time. You should do separate interviews to form your own opinion.

“You should in every interview make sure you ask the same questions, in the same order, and rank each answer.”

I can get behind her recommendation to end panel interviewing. I’ve never liked them anyway, but for an entirely different reason — they tend to feel like an inquisition, and result in conversations that don’t reveal any useful information about the candidate.

I couldn’t disagree more with her suggestion that every interviewer ask the same questions in the same order. If that tactic eliminates bias, it will do so at the cost of making the interview pointless. Asking a list of set questions turns the interviewer into an automaton, and destroys the opportunity to engage the candidate in spontaneous discussion, which is where the most valuable information is always uncovered.

That’s not to mention the fact that this process will repel candidates. Making prospective employees sit through a stream of identical interviews will drive them crazy, and give the impression that the employer is rigid and bureaucratic. Who wants to work for a company like that?

Eliminating bias is the right thing to do, both for people and for the bottom line. But this isn’t the way to do it.

September 20, 2016

Newsflash: Soft Skills in Short Supply

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece on the challenge of finding job candidates who have soft skills. The author, Kate Davidson, writes:

“Companies across the U.S. say it is becoming increasingly difficult to find applicants who can communicate clearly, take initiative, problem-solve and get along with co-workers…

“In a Wall Street Journal survey of nearly 900 executives last year, 92% said soft skills were equally important or more important than technical skills. But 89% said they have a very or somewhat difficult time finding people with the requisite attributes.”

That’s not really news, and comes as no surprise to those of us who hire people for a living.

Since the dawn of time, soft skills have been the difference between great employees and mediocre ones. The world is filled with individuals who have great technical skill, but accomplish little because they communicate poorly, can’t work well with others, are crippled by a poor self-image, or any of dozens of other deficits in soft skills.

Is the problem worse today than it has been in the past? I don’t think so, although the tight labor market has made people with excellent soft skills more difficult to attract and retain.

I suspect there may be something else going on. Maybe it’s the employers who have a problem because they are becoming less effective at identifying soft skills in candidates.

Think about it. As companies increasingly rely on automated screening of candidates, hiring managers (and especially HR professionals) spend more time with computer screens and less with people. As a result, they don’t see real human candidates enough to become skilled in assessing them. They just aren’t putting in the time to get good at it.

That would be truly ironic — employers complaining they can’t find soft skills because their own soft skills aren’t up to the task.

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!

September 8, 2016

Landing the First CEO Job

Many up and coming leaders aspire to become a CEO. Landing that first CEO job is tough, and I'm often asked for advice on how to do it. It's a tricky question. In my own work on CEO searches, it's unusual to see companies willing take a risk on someone who's never held the top job. Most boards of directors want a low risk candidate who has already been a CEO. So how does an aspiring CEO get the first shot at the corner office? I've seen it happen in the following ways:

• They get promoted from within. This is by far the most common path. A CEO resigns or is fired, and the company suddenly faces a vacancy. By promoting an internal candidate, the company saves time and money, but more importantly it gets a known quantity who already knows the business.

• They get hired by a trusted colleague. Another common path is winning the first CEO job through a trusted colleague. Maybe it's an investor who worked with the candidate at a prior business, or a former boss who's now sitting on the board of the hiring company. Whatever the case, there's a pre-existing relationship, and a lot of trust, that enables the hiring company to make the necessary leap of faith.

• They make their own job. Entrepreneurially-minded people can appoint themselves CEO by starting their own company. Many well-known entrepreneurs — think of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates — became CEOs of their own companies at times when they would never have been considered for the job anywhere else.

• They join a fixer-upper. A fourth path is through a troubled company where the board is having difficulty filling the CEO job. After they beat their heads against the wall trying to recruit a seasoned executive, they decide to give a first timer a shot. This can be a no-lose deal for the first time CEO. Turning around a bad situation will make her a hero, but failing won’t be a black mark on her record because the company was in deep trouble before she arrived.

What can you do to maximize your chances of becoming a CEO? I suggest a few simple steps:

• Do great work. Without it, nothing else matters.

• Tell people — both within your employer and outside — where you'd like to take your career. If they don't know about your aspirations, they may never think of you when opportunities arise.

• Develop a mentor — or several mentors — who can give you candid advice. The learning curve is too steep to do it all yourself, so you must learn from the experience of people who came before you.

• Finally, project confidence. If you don't believe you can handle the top job, no one else will, either.

Good luck!