Heidrick & Struggles Opens Its Kimono
July 29, 2010 by Harvey Wigder · Leave a Comment
In a recent article in the Financial Times, the new CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, one of the nation’s leading executive search firms, tells about changes resulting from a recent internal study of the results of 20,000 searches.
“We’ve found that 40 per cent of executives hired at the senior level are pushed out, fail or quit within 18 months.”
Some industry observers who saw that quote used it to bash the firm. For example, Staffing Advisor says “Astonishing. He’s describing a 40% failure rate by one of the most trusted and reputable brands in the executive search business. (If that statistic is true, I’m glad they didn’t build my house or service the breaks on my car.)”
Staffing Advisor was being disingenuous because they know that Kelly is only admitting what other observers have known for years. It is hard to find and integrate executives into a new company. Failure rates are high and the reason is cultural fit, not skills.
Kelly is a young CEO who earned his recent promotion because of his successes building revenue in the Heidrick regions he managed. He is using this research as a basis for introducing new services and income streams to the company. To continue quoting the Financial Times article: “The firm now offers companies everything from initial training and early feedback for their new recruits to regular assessments of current executives and succession planning and staff development programs.” The article then quotes a killer analogy. “Mr. Kelly likens the services to the work of an organ transplant team, which not only locate and attaches the new heart or liver but also follows up with the patient to make sure the transplant is not rejected. Such “leadership and advisory services” now account for 10 per cent of Heidrick’s revenue. Mr. Kelly hopes to push that number to 40 per cent over the next five years….”
I am sure these new services will be attractive to the Fortune 1000 firms who are most apt to use the services of Heidrick & Struggles and the other big brand search firms. This is the CYA mentality immortalized in the phrase, “You can’t go wrong with IBM!”
If Heidrick and the other big search firms had the courage to take a deeper look, they might take a Deming approach and consider the failure rate as having something to do with their processes and business model and tackle the question: What can we do to improve our processes?
At Fulcrum, we have recognized the problems in the big-company search model for years. We improved our processes several years ago and we provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We are happy to see that a giant like Heidrick and Struggles is beginning to get it, and is offering (for an additional fee) many of the services we already provide as part of our stand search package.
If you go to Heidrick’s website, you will see the array of services they offer and learn about the many experts who provide them. On the other hand, if you go to the Fulcrum web site, you will see a simple promise: a guarantee that we will get it right. Let the clients decide which firm gets it right.