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Shaping Successions
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Discovering Leaders
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There is hardly any major Chaebol in South Korea that has not been rocked by a ‘war of princes’ during leadership succession. Notably, the one group that should be involved that is kept in the dark from this is the professional management.
Kristi Maynor, Head of the U.S. CMO and Digital Transformation Practice at Egon Zehnder, joined Drew Neisser on his Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast to discuss courage and the characteristics of the world’s most successful CMOs. Courage is particularly important for marketing leaders because “a good CMO has to be ready to take personal risk,” says Maynor.
After you’ve been fired, getting back into the job market can be difficult. Egon Zehnder Senior Advisor Claudio Fernández-Aráoz offered his expertise on how best to approach this situation in Harvard Business Review.
Achieving a healthy life-work balance is a top priority for today's young professionals, notes Egon Zehnder’s Eduard Knezevic in the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung. Unlike older executives, many young potential managers don't want to spend all of their time in the office.
Minh-Ha Nguyen, an Egon Zehnder consultant in the technology and digital practices, says that while China’s technology industry was previously seen as only capable of copying Western products, today, Chinese tech companies have become leaders in innovation.
For the Harvard Business Review IdeaCast, Egon Zehnder Senior Advisor Claudio Fernández-Aráoz sat down with Senior Editor Sarah Green Carmichael to discuss how more companies can make good decisions by developing and hiring insiders. According to Fernández-Aráoz, there is emerging research that shows that organizations, particularly at the very high levels, are hiring from the outside excessively, perhaps five times two often.
At the Forbes Leadership Forum on Private Equity, Charles Gray, co-leader of Egon Zehnder’s US Diversity Practice with a special focus on Private Equity, recently contributed to the discussion on diversity, arguing that while Private Equity does not have the best record on diverse hiring, it does have a type of “evergreen hiring” that we can all learn from: Building great talent pipelines by forging strong relationships with promising candidates – before they’re even candidates.
With attacks from financial activists on the rise, companies are starting to beef up their boards with experienced experts, reports the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Both major concerns and smaller, family-run firms in Switzerland have launched board-level recruitment drives over the last 6 months, confirms Philippe Hertig, partner at Egon Zehnder in Zurich.
The European commission is to push for a quota for women on company boards to address the slow progress to gender equality in the senior ranks of publicly listed businesses. Previous attempts by the EU’s executive to set a 40% goal for women in the top ranks of listed companies have been blocked by Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden overs fears that Brussels was overreaching into domestic affairs. Hungary and Poland have opposed the move on ideological grounds.
The combination of 3G Capital’s ongoing acquisitions, margin pressure from discounters like Aldi and Lidl and the expectations of activist investors has thrown consumer packaged goods companies in the food space squarely on the defensive. Most have reacted by going into cost-cutting mode, slashing entire layers of marketing and R&D talent from their organizations.
Digitalization, automation, robotization, artificial intelligence – our society is in the midst of a fundamental transformation. It impacts on companies and of course on executive search firms as well, says Michael Ensser, Managing Partner of Egon Zehnder Germany, in an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt.
As third-generation succession begins at South Korea’s Chaebols, leadership succession is the most critical task the owner family faces.
How can firms and female managers accelerate slow progress with gender diversity? In an interview with the Handelszeitung Egon Zehnder consultant Simone Stebler advises female professionals to find a sponsor.
There are many reasons why candidates apply for jobs that don’t match their level of experience. These include switching industries, trying to get into a particular company, relocating to a new city, or looking to maximize personal flexibility. But even an impressive résumé doesn’t guarantee an offer.
“The right timing” was the focus of the 54th forum organised by the Schweizerische Management Gesellschaft SMG, reports the Handelszeitung.
When it comes to choosing leaders politics could learn from business, according to Egon Zehnder’s Philippe Hertig quoted in the Swiss daily Neuer Zürcher Zeitung. Hertig criticises the way Switzerland elects its federal councilors as “unprofessional”.
Big businesses are often slow to adapt and innovate, while start-ups struggle to build teams and systems to scale up their businesses. How can firms break this mould? By learning from one another, writes Egon Zehnder’s Catherine Zhu in the Career Doctors section of the South China Morning Post.
Novartis recently appointed a comparatively young internal candidate with no previous corner office experience as its CEO, reports the Handelszeitung. “The choice is part of a trend,” according to Egon Zehnder consultant Philippe Hertig.
What does a career in investment banking look like today? In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Hochschulanzeiger Egon Zehnder consultant Jörg Janke identifies the competences, potential and attitudes that determine success.
When CEOs start giving top management jobs to their buddies, investors need to sit up and pay attention, reports the Swiss financial bi-weekly Finanz und Wirtschaft.
In Emerging Markets Business, Egon Zehnder’s Sonny Iqbal and Richard Stark offered their perspective on one family business, Paraíso Verde, which was founded in Chile in 1911 and later fell into crisis following the loss of the founders.
In a byline article in Germany’s Börsen-Zeitung newspaper for the financial sector, Birgit Storz and Christian Redhardt consider the question of whether we still “need bankers”. The authors depict financial institutions caught between the residual tremors of the financial crisis and the early impacts of digitalization and ask: “What kind of leaders do today’s banks need? As we don’t know what new variety of disruption we’re likely to face tomorrow, there is an even greater need for leaders who accept change as the new normal.
In 2013, Carol SingletonSlade, Steve Goodman, Trent Aulbaugh and Roger Aguirre of Egon Zehnder’s Global Energy Practice warned of the dire need for identifying and training a new generation of qualified and prepared executives who are ready and willing to lead oil and gas companies. Four years later, as Chevron’s chief executive John Watson is set to step down, his likely replacement is a representation of this “new leadership for a changing oil world.”
Digital transformation is driving demand for business engineers, reports the German daily Main-Echo. “Business engineers are particularly relevant today because they straddle two worlds,” explains Thorsten Gerhard, Egon Zehnder’s Industrial Practice Leader.
For decades, search firms in India and around the world have built their businesses on C-suite placements. But with the industry being disrupted by social networks and a complex hiring environment, business models are changing and search firms and management consultancies are now offering more value-added services.
There is still a large gap between digital strategy and practice, with companies continually struggling to fully implement digital transformation due to lack of organizational support and cultural change. These insights and more were gleaned from an event discussing the findings of a recent study from Financieele Dagblad and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Ghent, Belgium.
As emerging technologies are set to take over IT jobs in India and around the world, candidates need to show more than just an engineering degree and expertise in programming languages to join this disrupted workforce.
“And another Digital Officer bites the dust,” wrote Egon Zehnder consultant Natascha van Boetzelaer in a LinkedIn post. Van Boetzelaer is bothered by this emerging trend.
What makes a top Chief Digital Officer and are they tomorrow’s CEOs?
The retail revolution in China is well underway. While the $13.7 billion Amazon – Whole Foods deal came as a huge shock in the United States, it didn’t in China, where digital disruption is already upending the retail industry.
When it comes to choosing top leaders, today’s companies prefer potential over competencies, according to Moritz von Campenhausen, head of Egon Zehnder’s Leadership Services Practice Group.
What is behind Brazil’s current talent exodus, asks Istoé? In a country shaken by crisis and political scandals, many Brazilians are thinking about moving abroad. And the better their academic background, the better their chances, leading to a wave of “qualified migration” out of Brazil.
“The extent to which top leaders can determine a company’s culture is incredible,” notes Egon Zehnder’s Philippe Hertig in an interview with the Swiss daily Handelszeitung.
Why things are changing for HR is described in an article in the German-language Harvard Business Manager magazine (July 2017)
Talking to Germany’s Compliance Manager magazine, Jörg Thierfelder explains that companies today are looking for “professionals who take compliance seriously, both as a standard of conduct and as a business factor.”
When Yahoo is absorbed by Verizon Communications, it will be the end of an era for one of the pioneering names of the internet age.
J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler stepped down Monday (June 5) after 14 years at the helm, unable to arrest the upscale clothing chain’s slide. Drexler, the former CEO of Gap Inc., was an Apple board member who helped Steve Jobs create the first Apple stores.
PRWeek, eBay, Egon Zehnder, and Edelman convened senior PR pros from Silicon Valley to discuss best practices and big issues facing the comms and tech sectors during a March panel discussion at eBay's headquarters in San Jose.
Pay for Performance traditionally means that CEO compensation is tied to a company’s fortunes, reports the Swiss financial daily Finanz und Wirtschaft.
Only 8.1 out of the 29.5 million women of working age currently have a job in Turkey, reports the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
The CISO role continues to evolve and is now more varied and critical than ever before.
Quartz asked a dozen business leaders, including CEOs of major organizations, what books they would recommend for the thousands of new graduates preparing to enter the workforce.
“Like many of our clients, we are just setting off on a digital journey of discovery.” These are the opening words of a brief statement by Michael Ensser, Managing Partner of Egon Zehnder in Germany, in the brand eins special issue on the topic of “Consulting”.
Cyclical market volatility will continue to be standard in the energy industry. An impending market rebound has many feeling cautiously optimistic, but the extended cycle of the current downturn — now being characterized as “lower for longer” — has revealed a new reality in the energy sector that will change leadership imperatives for the foreseeable future.
Japan Inc. may be shortchanging some key executives. Outside board members in Japan seem to be underpaid, considering that they are now expected to play a central role in the reform of the country's corporate governance.
Energy companies are finally starting to take IT seriously, says Egon Zehnder consultant Trent Aulbaugh in an interview with Bauer Business Focus.
Gender parity will give businesses access to a more diverse pool of talent, enable them to build stronger teams and as a result, help provide better solutions to customers.
How can a company be reinvented successfully? Kati Schütte, Global CEO Practice Leader at Egon Zehnder, looks at this question in a case study appearing in the latest Harvard Business manager, the German edition of the Harvard Business Review.
Young women, it seems, have a healthy sense of ambition. Nearly three quarters of them in the early stages of their professional careers aim to reach the top level of the corporate ladder, according to the recent ‘Leaders & Daughters Global Survey‘ report by Egon Zehnder.
Egon Zehnder’s Leaders & Daughters 2017 survey found that women feel empowered and ambitious at the office—but only to a point. Nearly three-quarters of respondents in the early stages of their professional careers said they aim to reach the top level of the corporate ladder.
Boards are the focus of Spain’s new regulatory framework with a focus on professionalisation, transparency and independence, reports Spain’s business daily Expansión.
At Leaders & Daughters Lisbon, several Portuguese leaders and their daughters took part in a discussion on the role of women in the labor market.
Empowering professional women was the focus of a recent “Leaders & Daughters” event organized by Egon Zehnder in Bogota, Colombia to mark International Women’s Day.
The share of women on Swiss supervisory boards was 1 percent higher than the worldwide average in 2016, but remains far lower than in some other Western European countries, reports the Swiss magazine Finanz und Wirtschaft.
What is the right route to the top for ambitious women leaders? Female executives are usually told that P&L, with its implied responsibility for monitoring resources and costs, is the fast track to the C-Suite, reports the Financial Times.
How can companies do more to promote gender diversity, asks the Financial Times? Setting specific diversity goals and measuring progress towards them is a good start, says Karoline Vinsrygg, Leader of Egon Zehnder’s Global Diversity Council.
The share of women on boards in Switzerland is growing, but there is still room for improvement, reports the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
As part of its Leaders & Daughters initiative Egon Zehnder recently launched its “To my daughter” campaign encouraging top leaders to share their wisdom with the next generation of professional women.
In an interview with BBC’s Today, Fiona Packman greets Vodafone’s plans to help more women return to work after taking time out to have children.
Vodafone recently announced plans to actively recruit women on career breaks, many of whom have left their jobs to have children, reports BBC.com.
Just 29 percent of new UK board recruits were women in 2016, down from 32.1 percent in 2014 and 31.6 percent in 2012, reports The Independent, citing Egon Zehnder’s Global Board Diversity Analysis 2016.
The percentage of female board members in the US dropped in 2016, reports the International Business Times. Out of 44 nations, the US ranked 19th place, with about two women per board versus an average of 11.5 seats. Could quotas be the answer?
Why are large US public companies struggling to get more women onto their boards, asks Inc.com? A new report by Egon Zehnder finds that just 20 percent of US board seats are held by women versus 21 percent two years ago.
The number of women on boards is growing steadily both in Switzerland and worldwide, reports the Swiss Economics magazine Bilanz. According to Egon Zehnder’s latest Global Board Diversity Analysis, the number of women on Swiss boards rose from 5.9 percent to 19.2 percent over the last decade.
The majority of women in the early stages of their professional career aspire to executive leadership positions, reports Staffing Industry Analysts citing a new Egon Zehnder survey.
Women at Indian companies have plenty of career ambition and enjoy ample development opportunities, but struggle to overcome gender bias at the leadership level.
Professional experience, and especially specialist expertise, is now more important than theoretical knowledge, says Egon Zehnder’s Philippe Hertig.
Women are still scarce at the top, reports the Swiss weekly Handelszeitung. How can they break through the glass ceiling by taking matters into their own hands? Egon Zehnder consultant Simone Stebler identifies six ways for women to advance their careers.
Fund professionals often benefit from so-called “stretch assignments” or projects that take them out of their comfort zone, reports ignites.com.
There was mixed news for supporters of gender diversity on corporate boards this week, reports the Financial Times.
Virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize digital marketing, write Egon Zehnder consultants Amanda Roberts and Sarah Van Dyck for CMSWire.
If it seems like cybersecurity is always playing catch-up to a new generation of threats, it's because cybersecurity today still is where traffic safety was in the 1970s, writes Egon Zehnder’s Kal Bittianda for Security Roundtable.
Large European companies are rushing to appoint Chief Digital Officers (CDOs), reports the Swiss broadcaster SRF. But digital leadership talent is a rare commodity. Egon Zehnder’s Philippe Hertig confirms the fierce demand for CDOs in Europe.
The gender diversity dynamic at board level lost impetus in the UK last year, reports the Financial Times.
An early champion of diversifying corporate culture, the US has fallen behind much of the developed world over the past four years, according to Egon Zehnder’s 2016 Global Board Diversity Analysis.
Gender parity internationally is picking up, with women occupying 19% of board seats of the largest companies in 2016 versus 14% in 2012, reports Forbes magazine.
Why is progress with gender diversity disappointingly slow, asks Fast Company? Diversity is often led by a board chair, according to Egon Zehnder’s 2016 Global Board Diversity Analysis.
What kind of technology CEOs can really foster innovation, asks Egon Zehnder’s Eric Anderson in Hub Magazine? Successful technology leaders are usually comfortable with ambiguity, complexity and shifting risks.
“Leading a company is definitely a lot more difficult now thanks to rising volatility and insecurity,” warns Michael Ensser, Managing Partner of Egon Zehnder, Germany in the business daily Handelsblatt.
US Midwest firms have failed to adapt to international competition and face ongoing disruption driven by globalization and technological change, writes Egon Zehnder’s Karl W. Alleman.
Managing and developing high-potential leaders is one of the most difficult corporate practices in today’s ever-changing environment, says Andrew Roscoe, the global leader of Egon Zehnder’s Executive Assessment and Development Practice.
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