What Boards Get Wrong about Hiring a CEO
Most CEO searches optimise for the candidate who fits the deck. The candidates who deliver outcomes rarely fit the deck.
Optimising for the wrong things
- Pedigree over operating track record
- Eloquence over decisiveness
- Comfort with the existing leadership team over willingness to change it
- Preserved candidates who have never owned a hard call
What a serious search looks like
- Honest definition of what the company actually needs
- Reference work done before the candidate is shortlisted
- Real conversations about the trade-offs, not the brand
- Compensation tied to outcomes, not optics
Where I see this most often
PE-backed and family-owned companies repeat this mistake the most. The brand of the candidate is reassuring to the board. The result is a CEO who cannot or will not do the actual job.
https://niklaslindahl.com/essays/what-boards-get-wrong-about-hiring-a-ceo