Browse News - Egon Zehnder

The Belgian tech startup landscape is still predominantly controlled by men. In 86% of the capital rounds implemented this year, no women were on boards. Three quarters of board positions still go to men according to a global study by leadership consultancy Egon Zehnder.

While some progress has been made, the vast majority of board positions still go to men. Gender equality on boards will never be achieved if the current appointment rates continue, a report by Egon Zehnder has found.

Egon Zehnder conducted a global study of board and senior executive roles at 1,610 public companies. It found that just over one in five board seats were occupied by women, but more than seven in 10 new positions were going to men.

The proportion of women at the top of Swiss companies is well below the required levels. According to Egon Zehnder’s 2018 Global Board Diversity Tracker, which studied gender representation in 44 countries across 1,610 companies (37 of them in Switzerland), 22.3% of board members in Switzerland are female. Only 2.7% of Swiss CEOs are women, compared to 4.2% in Western Europe and 3.7% globally.

While progress is being made, especially at the board level, Egon Zehnder’s 2018 Global Board Diversity Tracker points out that companies need to go beyond the token appointment of one or two women to their boards before any positive impact is felt.

In new research, Egon Zehnder examined board and senior executive roles at 1,610 public companies worth €7 billion or more in 44 countries. The findings indicate that just over 1/5 of board seats were held by women, a 2% increase over 2016, but more than seven in every 10 new appointments were still going to men.

A new study by Egon Zehnder reports, among countries that average three or more women on large company boards, all but one operate under government-mandated quota systems. This begs the question, should the diversity advocates that have been trying for two decades to sell the corporate world on gender balance in the boardroom be lobbying lawmakers instead?

An international study of management teams from the leadership consultancy Egon Zehnder paints an unhappy picture of equality progress. Although the proportion of women in corporate leadership has increased over time, the pace is so slow that equality will never be achieved at this rate. In their 2018 Global Board Diversity Tracker, Egon Zehnder examined the composition of management teams of 1,610 publicly listed companies in 44 countries.

Gender equality in the boardroom won’t happen if the pace of change continues to slow down. Egon Zehnder’s Simon Stebler, based in Zurich, explains why recent improvements are being threatened as new figures show just 2.7% of CEOs at large firms in Switzerland are women.

Egon Zehnder's Lisa Blais Recognized as One of Most Influential Governance Professionals of 2018

Strong HR leadership has, by many measures, never been more important to business development. And yet, there aren’t enough candidates ready to lead. Gizem Weggemans, head of HR practice, and Karim Jalbout, head of technology, spoke with People Management on how the profession can bridge the gap.

Egon Zehnder chairwoman Jill Ader discusses gender equality in her panel session at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit

Families that control an enterprise over multiple generations have a lot more to consider than the average business owner. Egon Zehnder's Jennifer Pendergast shares how families should approach selling their business.

Few boards have enough tech savvy in the boardroom and even fewer have tech committees. Egon Zehnder's Lindsay Trout shares what boards need to do to be tech-ready in today's world.

In an exclusive interview, chair-elect Jill Ader talks about the new challenges that CEOs are facing today.

Cyber risk experts Kal Bittianda, Selena Loh LaCroix, and William Houston explain why changes to improve security are necessary at the board level.

We typically spend at least two decades in our formal education, carefully choose our places of employment and invest significant time and effort in training. But we overlook one very key piece of the learning puzzle: surrounding ourselves with people who will push us to succeed in unexpected ways.

The CMO role is one of the most dynamic, challenging, exhilarating, complex, nuanced and powerful in the C-suite. Leader of Egon Zehnder's CMO Practice Kristi Maynor shares what will be necessary for future marketing leaders to continue to innovate.

It’s tempting to over-generalize when it comes to Millennials, especially with cybersecurity concerns. But Egon Zehnder's Global Head of Cybersecurity says these Millennials, or "Digital Natives" have a different perspective on things like SSNs posted online because they’re already out there.

For 30 years, Egon Zehnder has been in the business of assessing leaders along two broad dimensions: potential and competence. One key conclusion? You can’t have either without curiosity. Although we have found that high potentials also need insight, engagement, and determination, curiosity—defined as a penchant for seeking new experiences, knowledge, and feedback and an openness to change—is perhaps most important.

Lisa Blais, Egon Zehnder's co-leader of the US Board Practice, discusses how boards can attract the top C-suite talent.

Most CEOs are grappling with one particular challenge, irrespective of industry or geography: getting the right leadership talent. Governments face this challenge too. The Indian government has responded to this challenge by taking the initiative to invite executives from beyond the ranks of the civil service to apply for certain Joint Secretary posts.

As the first generation of middle-market private equity leaders nears retirement, many firms are struggling with how to move forward with succession planning, even when faced with increasing pressure from their limited partners.

According to an Egon Zehnder survey of 402 CEOs from 11 countries, 68% of company chiefs said that they weren't fully prepared for their role as CEO. As new CEOs adjust to their roles, HR leaders can educate them on the value of human capital management (HCM) and how strategies for hiring, training and development, compensation and other HR functions line up with organizational goals.

According to Egon Zehnder’s Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini, most CEOs operate at just 50-75% of their potential, and before being able to transform their company, CEOs first need to transform themselves. In an interview with ‘Agefi’s Elsa Floret, Pedrazzini discussed the results of Egon Zehnder’s global CEO survey, how the role of an executive is changing and how to measure the potential of a future CEO.

According to Vivek Khemka, who co-leads Egon Zehnder’s CEO Practice in India, chief executives are, in general, quite confident in their skills and their abilities, but at the same time also admit that certain parts of the role have proven more challenging and isolating than anticipated.

The Chicago Tribune reported that among Illinois’ 25 most valuable companies, women have claimed 44% of new directorships since the start of last year — a sign that progress is accelerating

This year, just 5% of CEOs in the S&P 1500 index are women, compared with 4% in 2015 and 2014. A new study released by the Pew Research Center found that of the four highest paid executives beneath the CEO at each company, just 11.5% were held by women.

A global survey of newly-appointed CEOs by Egon Zehnder reveals the role is more difficult and demanding than many respondents – approximately two-thirds – feel prepared for.

In what we are calling the Cyber Century, the first signs of danger appear on a screen; a hack, a viral video, a tweet. Any of these can be the opening shot of a bruising battle that can quickly escalate to a crisis.

Many millennials no longer aspire to be millionaire CEOs. Speaking with Martina Fuchs for CNN Money Switzerland, Clemens Hoegl, Partner at Egon Zehnder Switzerland, discusses findings from the firm’s recent survey of more than 400 global CEOs, The CEO: A Personal Reflection.

What will be the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruiting, asks a special report by the German public broadcaster ZDF?

Today, many private equity firms looking to grow their portfolios are running into new pressures in the form of expansion and investor demands.

In 2015 McDonald’s Corporation began an exciting journey to transform their business. The goal was clear – to become a Better McDonald’s through its Velocity Growth Plan designed to “Retain, Regain and Convert” customers by “Making Feel Good Moments Easy for Everyone”.

What are the biggest challenges facing CEOs on the job and how do Swiss executives differ from their global counterparts, asks Finanz und Wissenschaft? Citing a recent study by Egon Zehnder on the challenges facing CEOs, only 28% of internally recruited managers and 32% of external candidates feel fully prepared when they take on the top job.

Personal development and managing teams are identified by CEOs as the most challenging aspects of their job. Citing a recent CEO survey by Egon Zehnder, Moneycab and Organisator report that CEOs are very conscious of the need to change and evolve personally to keep up with business developments.

Female lawyers of Asian descent are climbing the ranks as general counsel and heading the legal departments of Fortune 500 companies at an unprecedented rate.

Many CISOs now find that their jobs exist at the intersection of risk mitigation and business innovation, requiring them to manage their own information-security organizations as well as their relationships with CEOs, boards, and the rest of the C-suite.

To explore the “golden age” of the female COO, Fortune recently talked to 19 female current or former COOs and management experts, including Martha Josephson, the founder and leader of the global Digital segment of Egon Zehnder’s Technology and Communications Practice.

In 2017, Het Financieele Dagblad selected sixteen young supervisors for a study on what drives them, what they expect from their organizations, and in what ways they differ from their more experienced colleagues.

Despite growing security concerns about IoT and IIoT, many businesses still overlook key factors, as well as offer products and services that lack essential protections.

Do you have what it takes to become a supervisory board director?

More than ever, organization leaders need committed counselors—individuals who will push them to greater heights and encourage them to pursue transformation.

“Gender diversity works when it is part of a business model,” notes Egon Zehnder’s Simone Stebler in Swiss daily Handelszeitung.

Turkey is still trailing behind Europe and the USA when it comes to women leaders, reports the Turkish daily Hürriyet.

Simone Stebler, an Egon Zehnder consultant and one of the leading experts on diversity and inclusion in Switzerland, sat down with CNNMoney Switzerland to discuss her ideas about how women can break the glass ceiling.

With the rise of the Internet of Things, how can businesses ensure they have the protections they need to minimize risk and remain compliant with regulations?

In an interview with Manager Magazin, Michael Ensser, Managing Partner for Germany, talks about what companies should look for in candidates in the era of digitalization.

Leaders had an information arbitrage earlier, but now information is readily available to everybody and that is reducing the power centres, Rajeev Vasudeva, global chief executive at executive search and leadership firm Egon Zehnder, tells Saumya Bhattacharya.

“Good governance is key to long-term success, especially in family-owned business, where stakeholder relationships are often complex,” says Sonny Iqbal, co-leader of Egon Zehnder’s Global Family Business Advisory.

On average, CIOs leave companies every four years, often spurred by broad changes in corporate strategy or role. CIOs also exit because they can’t shake free the budget they require or they find their strategy de-emphasized.

Egon Zehnder Chairman Damien O’Brien spoke to Forbes India’s Manu Balachandran about the evolution of company boards and identifying new leaders.

Did you know that the majority (80 percent) of corporations around the world are family-owned? Yet only three percent continue operating beyond the fourth generation.

With the job market heating up and the unemployment rate at a new low, there are millions of jobs waiting for the right people to fill them. This is great news for employees, but how can management retain top talent and keep high performers from jumping ship?

In our continually disrupted business environment, what an employee will be doing in their next job often has little to do with to anything they’ve done before. When it comes to today’s employees, “past performance is not the best indicator of future success,” says Rajeev Vasudeva, CEO of Egon Zehnder.

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