Beyond Judgement: Why Conker 360 is Revolutionising Executive Hiring
Comments Off on Beyond Judgement: Why Conker 360 is Revolutionising Executive HiringDaren Rubins, Co-Founder at Conker, Executive Search & Talent Business
In my previous life as an agency CEO, one of my proudest achievements was making senior hires that not only survived but thrived in their roles. Some of that success was judgement but some was just plain luck.
If you’ve ever been responsible for hiring senior executives, you’ll understand the enormous stakes involved. A brilliant hire can elevate a company to new heights; a poor hire can result in disruption, costly misalignment, and even financial damage. As Jeff Bezos once said, “I’d rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person.” The stakes are simply that high.
In a world dominated by subjective judgement, personal bias, and limited candidate pools, making successful senior hires often seems down to luck as much as judgement. But should something so crucial be left to chance?
At Conker, we believe the answer is unequivocally no.
Introducing Conker 360: An Intellectual Property Revolution
Over the past six years, we’ve developed, tested, and refined a revolutionary methodology designed to minimise subjective judgement, eliminate guesswork, and maximise hiring success. The result is Conker 360, our proprietary ecosystem of Executive Hiring intelligence—clearly defined as Intellectual Property (IP) that transforms senior-level recruitment from an intuitive art into a precise science.
Three Layers of Insight
Conker 360 consists of three interlocking yet independently powerful IP assets:
1. Conker Inside – Assesses leadership personality traits across 16 distinct types. We’ve successfully deployed this with over 5,000 senior industry professionals, creating a robust database that reveals exactly how diverse leadership teams can be constructed to deliver peak performance.
2. Conker ID – Delivers profound insights into candidate motivations and alignment with organisational culture. It’s a data-rich matching tool that enables businesses to not only understand precisely what senior talent seeks but also how well companies deliver against these expectations. Already leveraged by hundreds of top-tier professionals, this tool offers invaluable insight into industry benchmarks and best practices.
3. Conker Capability – Provides quantifiable evidence of candidates’ experience and capabilities through robust proof points. This fills a crucial gap in objectively validating skill sets, ensuring every hire meets stringent capability criteria.
Together, these tools form a comprehensive IP-powered recruitment suite that sets Conker apart from every other talent consultancy in the market.
Why this Matters: From Risk to Certainty
Our clients—industry-leading companies like Omnicom, Disney, Allwyn, Pinterest, The Stagwell Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and many more—choose Conker precisely because the stakes of senior recruitment are so high. They recognise that intuition alone no longer suffices. Our IP-backed approach systematically reduces hiring risk, delivers deeper insights, and ensures alignment between talent and organisation.
The proof lies not just in our client satisfaction but in the remarkable success of our placements and trail blazers. Our hires don’t just survive—they thrive, staying longer, achieving more, and transforming businesses in the process.
It’s Time to Stop Guessing
Senior hires matter far too much to leave them to chance. Conker 360 ensures that every executive placement succeeds, every time. If your business is serious about growth, transformation, and competitive advantage, your senior recruitment strategy needs to be equally serious—and powered by data-driven IP.
Conker 360: The next time you think about making a senior hire that really matters, you’d better not leave it to chance.
Share our digital Christmas card and help save the planet
Comments Off on Share our digital Christmas card and help save the planetThank you for joining us in supporting the planet by planting trees and not sending cards. If you’d like to send an e-Card to friends and family please feel free to copy the image. To dedicate a tree to help build a National Forest, please go to www.nationalforest.org/shop and click on dedicate a tree.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a magical festive break.
From The Conker Team
Introducing Conker Dynamics
Comments Off on Introducing Conker DynamicsWe are excited to announce our NEW Leadership offering, Conker Dynamics, designed to accelerate leaders performance by optimising personal and collective strengths within a leadership team. This unique approach is led by two accredited executive coaches, both with 25+ years of business leadership experience, offering companies a competitive advantage by focusing on working with leaders to drive business success. The programme covers leadership effectiveness, creating a winning mindset, driving a performance culture, strategic roadmap alignment & planning and conflict resolution.
Powered by Conker Inside, with its unique insight into leadership styles and attributes across 18000+ datapoints, each programme is tailored to the individual business. Conker Dynamics is a natural extension to Conker Inside for businesses looking to unlock the potential of a talented leadership team that would benefit from improved self- awareness and more aligned dynamics. We have spent the last year investing in developing and refining the leadership programme, both with businesses and external consultants. Using a mixture of one-to-one coaching, leadership profiling, individual and group exercises, the programme energises leaders to create new ways of working, leveraging individual and team strengths, ultimately leading to better performance and business results. We are excited to offer the industry something that is robust and proven.
Ben Wood, CEO, IDHL Group, a recent client, had this to say “The outputs from Conker Dynamics programme feel both transformative and achievable, but most importantly, tangible. It is really energising to see the leadership team so engaged, positive and committed to our 3 year plan”.
Not all CEO’s are created equally
Comments Off on Not all CEO’s are created equallyThe more senior you become, the more exposure you get to CEOs. And the more CEOs you meet, the more you start wondering whether they are, by definition, a specific breed of humans. Why? Because these people have reached the very top of their organisation, an ambition that could have taken decades to realise, and often at some personal cost. It takes commitment, resilience and determination to get there but is this where the similarities start or where they end?
As a leading talent specialist, we have partnered with a recognised psychometric expert to create Conker Inside, a tool that unpicks preferences in leadership styles, which aims to understand what commonalities or variations exist across job functions and businesses. We now have thousands of datapoints to draw upon and our sample of nearly 100 CEOs means that we can generate extraordinary insights.
The tool is a self-completion questionnaire which can determine whether you are structured and practical or bold and visionary. If you are sociable and extrovert or more considered and introverted? Whether you are more directive and commanding in your interactions or trusting and empowering. And lastly if you are a harmoniser who brings people together or an agitator who thrives on change. The answers you provide places you into one of sixteen profile types – if you haven’t done it already, try it for free https://conkerwithus.com/conker-inside.
The results for our CEO contingent are fascinating.
Firstly, there is no such thing as a ‘typical CEO’. Out of the 16 available leadership types, our CEO database features in 12 of them, which makes sense because these individuals have been chosen to lead in a way that reflects what that specific business needs at that specific time. Some businesses need the warmth and trust of a leader to bring disparate teams together, whereas others might need to disrupt an environment that’s become too cosy and complacent.
Secondly, whilst there isn’t a typical profile, there is one particular trait that is very dominant in CEOs, which is a strong leaning towards extroversion (88% of the sample). As a former CEO and introvert, I saw the importance of extrovert qualities, such as quick decision making, over communicating and unwavering belief and confidence.
And lastly, an insight that data becomes more interesting the deeper you dive into it. On face value, CEOs are just as likely to be practical as they are visionary, but that hides the fact that female CEOs are 54% more likely to be visionary than their male counterparts. And even more pronounced is that over half of female CEOs are harmonisers, whereas this figure drops to a quarter for men, who are much more likely to be agitators.
Like any tool, Conker Inside isn’t a precise science but its insights are hugely powerful if used in the right way and it’s reassuring to see that CEOs are just like the rest of us – different, talented and slightly flawed.
What about me?
Comments Off on What about me?As more and more women rise to leadership, are men being left behind? How do we drive progress towards more gender-balanced workplaces in a way that doesn’t overlook men? And how do we address the growing backlash against gender equality? Lori Meakin, author of No More Menemies, has some answers.
We all know that the business case for gender diversity is strong, and we rightly celebrate increasing numbers of women in leadership. But when you’re a man – especially a straight white man – what does that mean for you?
In some areas, men are still getting promoted at least as often as women. A recent FTSE report noted that “despite the rhetoric, the appointment rate in FTSE 350 Leadership teams remains heavily skewed towards men.” But adland is often a different picture, with many leadership teams already being majority women, particularly in media agencies.
Of course, it’s unlawful to discriminate against any gender when recruiting. But there’s a very real sense that men in the industry feel they’re “at the bottom of any recruiters wish list” these days. This reflects a feeling that’s common in life more broadly, as the majority of men in Britain – 59% – now believe that “we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men.” And it’s younger men who are the most likely to think this.
These fears and frustrations that swirl around the issue of gender at work damage all of us. But there are things we can all do to help in the workplace:
1. Look beyond the headline narrative to find accurate data. Loss aversion is a powerful cognitive bias, but the fear of obsolescence that most men feel right now may not always be borne out by the facts. Leaders can help by being transparent about their data, framing it with relevant contextual numbers, and remembering that the ideal leadership team isn’t dominated by any one gender .
2. Focus on the qualities of truly effective leadership. For instance, emotional intelligence is proven to be one of the most valuable leadership qualities. And because of the way girls tend to be socialised, women currently over-index in it… but many men can be brilliantly emotionally intelligent too.
3. Foster cultures where diversity of thought can really thrive in your business. Recruiting diverse teams is pointless if they’re all expected to think and behave the same once they get there. Leaders who complement, not replicate each other is the ideal.
Find out more about how The Others & Me help gender-diverse teams work better together to drive business growth: https://www.theothersandme.com/products-leadership
What have Gary Neville and Sue Unerman got in common you might wonder?
Comments Off on What have Gary Neville and Sue Unerman got in common you might wonder?Is it that they have been extraordinarily loyal servants to essentially one organisation, with Gary propping up the right side of Manchester United’s defence and Sue weaving her magic across Mediacom and now EMX’s attacking line up?
Or is it that both have created personal brands based on telling it how it is?
All of that is true but it’s not the reason I’ve brought them together. Instead, I was struck by two articles they had written and published within a week of each other, last September. Sue was highlighting the importance of having a motivated workforce, pointing to us needing a purpose beyond simply financial reward. And Gary was reflecting on what drove him, David Beckham and Roy Keane in their personal and collective missions.
Pursuing a ‘cause’ in your career can be incredibly powerful but it’s also highly personal and individual. Knowing what drives you is a hard thing to unpick but when you do, it can become your superpower. So we’ve created a unique tool to help you understand what makes you tick and what gets in the way of you being the very best version of yourself. It’s called Conker ID and it’s completely free to use. Complete the 10 minute questionnaire and you’re instantly rewarded with your very own bespoke report and coaching suggestions.
To start the rest of your career today, Conker ID Survey Start
Fuel your growth
Comments Off on Fuel your growthDo you know what drives you at work? What brings out the best in you? Or what might be holding you back? Conker has developed a new tool that delves into what makes you tick and helps to get you operating at peak performance. And the best part? It’s absolutely free. Click here Conker ID and start the rest of your career today.
Power of Purpose
Comments Off on Power of PurposeAre you leading with purpose?
For the second year in a row, I’ve had the privilege to judge The Media Week Awards Top Rising Stars and it’s made me reflect on the rising stars of this industry when I started out, a whole generation ago.
The ambitious youth of yesteryear had one goal. Get to the top. Not in a ruthless way but the objective was to get as high up the ladder as you could manage. And you’d do that by working long hours, putting your hand up for everything, learning as much as you could and pushing yourself hard.
Fast forward to the rising stars of today and they are a completely different proposition. The ambition is still there, although perhaps not quite as overt. Instead, they have already identified a personal and professional calling which drives them as individuals. Some talk about mental health in the workplace, some about diversity in its broadest sense, and others about the environment. Whatever the subject, they all have a purpose. Now, I’m a seasoned, cynical judge who’s well-versed in the art of over-claiming but these young talents aren’t just talking the talk. They’ve created initiatives that are already changing their workplace and the lives of their colleagues.
Legacy is something we tend to start thinking about as we get older. I realised, with the help of a wonderful coach, that mine was about championing diverse talent to transform businesses and careers. Conker was created to deliver this, in an ethical and sustainable way. One of the things we did from the very beginning was planting trees as a symbol for every placement we made and we’re proud to have planted over 150 of them.
And trees are probably the best metaphors for this new generation of rising stars because these extraordinary organisms are exceptional role models. Not only do they remove the bad stuff from the environment and replace it with oxygen, they also behave as a community that takes care of one another. If you’ve stumbled across ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ by Peter Wohlleben, you’ll have discovered that stronger trees nourish weaker ones, while some species protect their neighbours by emitting a scent to warn of approaching pests. They work as a team for the greater good because they need each other to survive and thrive.
This is what the rising stars of today are doing. But they aren’t just improving their own workplace, they’re actually doing their bit to change society and the planet for the better. That’s fantastic news for a world that’s crying out for meaning, authenticity and change. But it’s also a watch out for leaders that haven’t got a clear view about their company’s purpose and how it aligns with their own because these rising stars are demanding more and it won’t be long before they start creating their own forests.
Now official partner and proud sponsor of MEFA
Comments Off on Now official partner and proud sponsor of MEFAWe’re delighted to announce that Conker are now official partners of MEFA (Media For All). With an unrivalled track record in supporting and placing senior talent from under-represented groups, this further underpins our commitment to diversity and we look forward to developing our relationship with Naren and all of the MEFA Committee Members.
Conker Inside Launch
Comments Off on Conker Inside LaunchSo excited to be launching our latest Conker Inside product. To find out more visit https://lnkd.in/ewJmbm3G and we’ll show you how we can now provide transformational insights into your leadership team
Former Amplifi North MD joins Conker to launch Northern office
Comments Off on Former Amplifi North MD joins Conker to launch Northern officeConker, the London-based executive search firm, has appointed Lindsey Cook to lead its new Northern-based office.
Based in the North West, the new Conker location will cover all regions outside the capital. Its opening follows a successful period for the business, which has tripled in size over the last year.
Lindsey Cook left Dentsu agency Amplifi North in February last year, not long after the departure of Dentsu North’s MD Rachel McDonald, who is now MD of Fearless Adventures.
Her career saw her lead a team of more than 100 media specialists, building centres of excellence in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh, along with the largest programmatic team outside London.
“I am really excited to be joining Conker in the next stage of their journey,” said Lindsey Cook. “Liz [Jones], Daren [Rubins] and the team are incredibly impressive. Conker’s approach to finding diverse talent is so unique and, having built and run the largest media team outside of London, I recognise the critical importance of exceptional talent.”
Commenting on Conker’s expansion into the region, Co-founder Daren Rubins said: “The macro factors impacting business in the regions are so compelling, whether it’s the pandemic influencing where people and businesses want to be based, the acceleration of ecommerce or the levelling up of the economy, we’re seeing a huge demand for senior talent in the North.”
Who makes a better leader – CEO’s or Founder’s?
Comments Off on Who makes a better leader – CEO’s or Founder’s?I’ll admit that, until now, I’ve never given this much thought, even though I’ve been lucky enough to hold both positions.
Intuitively, you would probably assume that they’re quite similar. Driven, smart, decisive (ok, I don’t necessarily fit the stereotype). Perhaps the CEO might be more corporate or polished? Maybe the Founder has a larger appetite for risk?
Last year, we launched Conker Inside, a unique leadership assessment tool that generates powerful insights into leadership traits. By analysing over 8,000 data points, we’re able to identify trends common to specific job roles, disciplines, levels of seniority and even individual companies.
So what does it tell us about CEOs and Founders? Surprisingly, they have more differences than similarities. For example;
- CEOs are 80% more likely to be extraverted than Founders and are also much more likely to be directive, rather than empowering, with their teams
- Conversely, Founders are not only more visionary than CEOs, they also make more effort to create a harmonious environment
This leads us to yet another ‘nature versus nurture’ debate. I would argue that both of these leaders develop more of their style as a consequence of their situation. CEO’s can’t escape from the reality that they have owners and shareholders to answer to. They are faced with tough, incessant challenges and targets that need to be addressed within a time-frame they usually can’t control. Founders, on the other hand, often treat their business as an extension of their family and are even more personally invested, which makes the highs higher and the lows even lower.
Conker is fortunate to have trusted relationships with hundreds of CEO’s and Founders and we are constantly struck by the symbiotic relationship between the two, where they’re often jealous of aspects of each other’s positions. The CEO craves the freedom and potential financial exit that Founders are sometimes able to realise and Founders crave the resources, perks and relative financial stability of a CEO.
Being a CEO is a great privilege but with it comes associated pressures and demands that can’t be under-estimated. In comparison, being a Founder is a luxury, where the biggest pressures you face are your own but also where the risks are far more tangible.
So, who makes the better leader? Inevitably, it’s the one who can blend the best of both worlds. It’s the CEO who has the passion to act as a business owner and it’s the Founder who has the discipline and rational mind of a CEO.
If you haven’t already taken part, click here (http://conkerwithus.com/conker-inside-intro) to view your leadership profile and take a step towards the leader you want to be.
What’s your superpower?
Comments Off on What’s your superpower?
What’s your superpower?
You are in an interview.
It’s going well.
Then it comes, the curveball “What’s your superpower”?
What do people actually want to hear in response to this question? That you really are the veritable unicorn they are looking for; strategic, commercial, empathetic, client-centric (deep digital knowledge goes without saying…)?
Or could it be that something which others could see as a barrier to success in fact defines you, makes you stand out and brings diversity of thinking to what you do and how you do it?
Last year Thomas Byrne commented here on an article in the Guardian about GCHQ (the UK’s surveillance agency) and the fact that their apprentices were four times more likely to have dyslexia, as those on other schemes. They have found that people with dyslexia have valuable skills which enable them to see the bigger picture, quickly, and they spot patterns in complex, multiple data sources, that others might miss. Tom says that his dyslexia IS his superpower although admits that he struggled with it when younger. In fact his parents were told by an educational psychologist (when he was seven) that he should learn carpentry, as he would not be able to succeed intellectually. Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in Tom’s company will now be smiling…!
In a previous post I wrote that being nosy was perhaps one of my superpowers as I like meeting and understanding people and remember (often unusual) things about them, which is quite useful in our business. Speed is another, I can process a lot, quickly, I have good time management skills and can multi-task but it is also something I have to be mindful of as I know it can be perceived as not being “in the moment” and can be an irritant to others as most of my team will corroborate.
Overall, I would say that what can come across as a trite question, is designed to move the candidate away from formulaic answers and encourage more creativity, freestyling. Superpowers have two sides, but it’s increasingly important to be authentic and vulnerable about who you really are.
Clearly if you are asked what actual superpower (in the superhero sense) you would choose if you could have any, that’s a completely different proposition and mine would definitely be invisibility so that I could eavesdrop on interesting conversations, which I suppose brings me right back to my nosiness, or “natural curiosity” as a good friend kindly called it!
How do we know you are brilliant?
Comments Off on How do we know you are brilliant?The simple answer is you need to tell us …. Many of you are experts in building brands yet having viewed thousands of profiles on LinkedIn it astonishes me that so many people neglect their personal brand.
LinkedIn now has over 700m users worldwide and since the pandemic more decision makers are working from home, meaning online connections have become increasingly important. 81% of talent professionals say that virtual recruiting will continue when the pandemic is over.
So here are my top 3 tips:
1) A good current photo and arresting visual can make all the difference. Your profile will get 21x more views and 9x more connection requests with a recent, professional looking mugshot (no beachwear or flaming sambucas please!) We have made connections with people unknown to us in emerging companies with unique roles – often based upon how they shine on LinkedIn.
2) Include a concise yet brilliant summary of your experience. This will help people search for you, and prospective employers get excited by you. If you list 5 skills on your profile you are 27x more likely to be discovered. Also remember the first three lines are keyword sensitive, so make the algorithm work for you.
3) Include the impact of your work – highlight experience and personality via articles/awards/results. I love seeing how effective you have been, and it could be the difference between making a longlist or not. Hashtags and groups you follow help drive the content you are served too.
The pandemic has saved you time commuting so take 10 minutes to focus on your profile and tell us how brilliant you really are.
Hiring flexibly is the smart way to grow
Comments Off on Hiring flexibly is the smart way to growDuring lockdown, we’ve seen companies oscillate from “quick, we need to lose some of our people” to “quick, we need to hire more people” within months.
The unpredictable nature of the pandemic has brought chaos to those trying to balance resource and demand. If our business is a bell-weather for the wider market, we went from quiet to manic in the blink of an eye.
Some companies took the opportunity to ‘restructure’ their business to be leaner and more agile, while others were able to ‘restock’ their talent, focusing on improving their diversity. Both approaches were much needed but, in truth, they should be happening irrespective of any pandemic.
What has come to light is that while businesses can’t afford to be over-subscribed with people, the opposite is just as troubling when new opportunities come knocking. We believe there’s an emerging opportunity to hire smarter and more flexibly.
When I mention this, people immediately think of freelancers or temporary help. And there’s no question that this creates more flexibility and scalability but most businesses, particularly in the world of marketing, prefer the reassurance of working with people they can get to know and trust over time.
The growing opportunity is the flexible-permanent hire. The individual who wants to commit to one or maybe two roles, and develop themselves with a company, but doesn’t wish to be present or engaged for five days a week. Across the last year, we’ve seen so many talented individuals who have decided against committing to one full-time role. Instead, they would be happy to sign up to two, three or four days a week. Or five mornings. Or as and when the work is there.
This gives talent the opportunity to stay fresh and energised, whilst it gives the company relief on its payroll and a workforce that brings new ideas into the business.
As changes play out in our new world, organisations are missing a trick if they can’t offer this level of flexibility. Returning mums, committed dads, part-time carers or volunteers, aspiring entrepreneurs, those who just enjoy the thrill and variety of having a side-hustle – they are all interested in permanent roles that don’t require full-time commitment.
Liz Jones and I took the plunge at Conker last Autumn and doubled the size of our business. We were able to bring in three super-stars who were all prepared to commit themselves to the business but also wanted some balance and time to do other things. It’s the best thing we ever did.
So the next time you think about a restructure, or a restock, maybe think about rework too.
There is no such thing as an informal chat!
Comments Off on There is no such thing as an informal chat!Having teenagers in my house highlights just how quickly the English language is evolving. There are loads of wonderful new words which I learn with alacrity but the ones that always fox me are those that have been hijacked to now mean something else – apparently my ‘cheddar’ is in my wallet, I mustn’t be basic (boring) and never tell cap (lie!). LOL!
This language evolution is also happening within the world of recruitment. With all employers quite rightly keen for people to be their authentic selves at work, many MDs and CEOs are mirroring this openness in the process of finding great talent. This journey now often starts with the candidates meeting for an informal ‘chat’. Time and again we hear leaders saddened by candidates doing just that: turning up and chatting!
It is a bit like going into the MasterChef kitchen and just cooking boiled eggs for John and Greg. Imagine the look on their faces when you presented your egg! Sadly, while you may have had the skills required you didn’t ‘flex’ them.
The ‘informal chat’ is actually a skilled thing to pull off – possibly harder than a formal interview. The air is relaxed which is the thing that often lures candidates into the wrong assumption that little is being noted – be under no illusion, it is. The secret to nailing it is in the preparation ahead of the event – know your audience. The skill on the day is to own the narrative, lead the ‘chat’ as it meanders through the state of the industry and lockdown hobbies, to your killer proof points as to why you are right for the role. Right in the middle of discussing the wonder that is Gogglebox, slip in an insight that redirects the ‘chat’ back to a low-key observation you have had on their business. Admittedly this has all become even harder with the limitations of the ZOOM ‘chat’! There’s nothing worse or more distracting than having to watching yourself being interviewed. Make sure to hide that view so you can concentrate fully on checking if your interviewer is ‘throwing shade’!
How life has changed in my line of duty
Comments Off on How life has changed in my line of dutyOver a year ago someone said to me, “this is not working from home, this is living with work”. There is no novelty to the blended existence that we all now have between our families/homes/pets/postmen and our working environment. We have all seen and enjoyed the benefits but there are no boundaries – I’ve even found myself missing the commute, the finishing up of emails, calls and messages on my way home so that when I arrive at my front door, I am physically and mentally somewhere else.
What has surprised me in all of this is the productivity and just what we’ve achieved at Conker over the past year. We were lucky enough to take on a CEO brief, the day we shut the office, just before the first lockdown. Having been in the office together all day every day, overnight, with everyone else, we switched to a virtual process and it was seamless. Candidates didn’t have to scurry out for interviews, people were more available, there was never the worry that certain people were going to bump into each other outside our offices. Candidates were still put through a robust process, hired and onboarded virtually. We not only adapted, we found better ways of working.
I have always loved my job and our industry, but I realise how many elements that make it the wonderful place it is, I took for granted. But also how much time they can take up – the travel to the face-to-face meeting (always scheduled for an hour) where people were sometimes late?! If anyone is more than 2 minutes late joining a zoom call there are prolific apologies because where exactly were you other than sat figuratively and literally in your little box, ‘you’re on mute’ the sonic logo of 2020?!
We are very lucky in that we can do our work virtually, arguably we can also do it quicker, but I do miss getting energy from people I’m not related to. I find it particularly difficult to do anything that requires more creativity or strategic thinking which I would do best or better sat next to my business partner, colleagues, clients and candidates. Our work is about people and some of the instinct that has served me so well can get lost on zoom. The alchemy when you ultimately connect the right candidate with the client is also harder to celebrate.
I’ve had a super structured and incredibly productive day today so far, I’ve had two client meetings, various calls with people in my network, three interviews and written this. However I’ve only done about 200 steps so far, I’m cold from sitting still for so long, its 2.30 and I haven’t eaten. Get me back to Soho for a falafel wrap if nothing else. That and a good old catch up about TV so that I actually have a clue what is going on in Line of Duty. Mother of God!
One great hire won’t fix your diversity problem
Comments Off on One great hire won’t fix your diversity problemWhen Liz and I set out to create an executive search and talent business with a difference, part of that difference was about promoting diversity, in its broadest sense.
Over the last 3 years, we’ve established a track record we’re fiercely proud of; over half our placed candidates are female and over a third are from under-represented groups. Almost unheard of for appointments at the most senior level. How have we done this? By developing relationships with incredible people like Cephas Williams and organisations like MEFA. By deepening our own connections within our industry and adjacent industries. And then starting our lists with diverse candidates, not throwing a couple in for good measure.
We were determined to do this because we saw from our own personal experience as former leaders, the huge benefits that diversity brings to better thinking, better culture, better outcomes. But we were also committed to challenge the grossly unfair discrimination good people faced because of their skin colour, gender, sexuality and a host of other labels when applying for senior roles. We have an ambition to help change the face of the media and communications world, both metaphorically and literally.
Our privileged access to CEO’s of organisations allowed us to hold a mirror up and ask the difficult questions. Happily, most businesses are now responding in a way that we could only have dreamt of a couple of years ago because the climate is changing, quickly, for the better.
But for all the businesses that see the advantages, there are plenty of others that are making gestures to simply ‘improve appearances’. This doesn’t fix the fundamental problem because diversity isn’t about tokenism, quotas or ratios. When it comes to socio-economic or sexual orientation for example, diversity can’t even be seen, so do they become less important to those who are fixated by appearances? Diversity needs to live and breath in organisations across every department and every level. It’s about creating an environment where differences aren’t tolerated or accepted but embraced and celebrated. Where belonging and inclusivity are a given, not a target.
Now, don’t get me wrong, a single diverse hire is better than nothing but consider this; If you feel like you need to make a diverse hire into your organisation because your ‘ratios don’t look great’, ask yourself why you don’t have a brilliant pipeline of diverse talent ready to step up into more senior opportunities. Maybe it’s time to revisit your employer value proposition or the company’s authenticity around equality, showcase your internal belonging credentials and diverse career development examples in your business, promote client work that demonstrates your values and principles – these are the things that give you credibility when attracting diverse candidates.
The good news is, if you can get this right, you’ll effortlessly attract the best talent from all ages, races and sexes, and they will all celebrate being part of your business. And I’d like to bet you’ll have an operation that delivers better thinking, better culture and better outcomes.
