How to Find and Choose a Temporary Manager
Find a temporary manager through executive search firms, specialist interim networks, or direct contact. Choose on operating track record and fit to the specific problem, not on a generic CV: the right person has done this exact kind of transition before and can start almost immediately.
Where to look
- Executive search and interim management firms
- Specialist interim and fractional networks
- Private equity and family office operating networks
- Direct contact with operators who publish their track record
What to screen for
- A track record of the specific situation you face, not a general CV
- Evidence of decisions owned, not projects advised on
- References from boards and sponsors, taken before the shortlist
- Availability to start within days, not months
Questions that reveal an operator
Ask what they did in the first ninety days of a comparable mandate, what they removed rather than added, and what they refused to do. Operators answer with decisions and trade-offs. Advisors answer with frameworks.
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