Competitive Edge Comes from Right People, Not Just New Ideas

At the Axel Springer NOAH 2016 Conference in Berlin, Egon Zehnder's Karim Jalbout delivers a keynote speech on hiring for leadership potential.

“Right now someone else is doing the same thing that you are, working on the same idea. Your competitive advantage is going to be the people around you,” says Karim Jalbout, Egon Zehnder’s European Digital Practice Leader, addressing digital economy leaders at the 2016 NOAH Conference. At the event, Jalbout urged companies to look for the leadership potential in people (curiosity, insight, engagement and determination): “What you need to look for in people is their potential to adapt, step up and be able to perform in a bigger, more complex job down the road.”