A senior appointment that goes wrong does not stay a recruitment matter for long. It becomes a strategy matter, a performance matter and sometimes a succession matter. Yet executive hiring is rarely owned by a single person or function.

  • Internal talent acquisition brings organisational context and continuity.
  • The chief executive's network brings trust, access and personal endorsement.
  • Board referrals bring strategic and governance perspective.
  • Direct sourcing brings reach and speed.
  • An executive search firm brings market intelligence, independent assessment and the willingness to challenge assumptions.

Each adds value. But activity is not accountability. Roles can be widely sourced, thoroughly interviewed and carefully referenced, and still end in the wrong appointment. The deeper question is not who introduced the candidate. It is who owned the quality of the decision, and who remained accountable once it was made.

One decision, many owners

No single party owns everything. Each owns a distinct part of the outcome.

  • The board and chief executive own the strategic need and the final decision.
  • HR owns the integrity of the process, alignment and the candidate experience.
  • The hiring leader owns the conditions in which the executive must succeed.
  • The search adviser owns the quality of research, assessment and counsel, including the responsibility to challenge an unrealistic brief or an attractive but unsuitable candidate.
  • The candidate owns the responsibility to examine the role, culture and expectations honestly before accepting.
Shared responsibility must never become shared ambiguity.

What a search adviser should be measured on

A search firm earns the right to advise by going beyond presenting candidates. It should be measured on whether it helped define the real leadership challenge, improved the quality of evidence, widened the organisation's perspective and stayed engaged through the executive's integration. That is why part of our own fee follows the outcome of the appointment.

A more disciplined system

No firm, internal team, network or referral can guarantee an appointment. What an organisation can build is a more disciplined system: clear outcomes, honest disclosure, rigorous assessment, explicit ownership of the decision and thoughtful integration. One chair, many influences, and one decision that can define the future.