IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE, what is Executive Search, or headhunting, all about? by Carl Lens, Kennedy Executive Search The Netherlands

‘In Search of Excellence’ is the meaningful title of a book by Peters & Waterman. Back in 1982, the year the book came out, a lot of yoghurt hit the ‘economy-fan’. The inflation was over 10%, the interest rates were 14% and unemployment rates were written in double digits as well. It was quite radical to write about excellent, profitable companies. The ideas were totally new. They came up with eight characteristics that mark great companies. To name a few: ‘Customers are Cool’, ‘People (employees) are Cool’, ‘Action is Cool’, ‘Entrepreneurship is Cool’ and ‘Cool companies are Value Driven’. They basically said that any idiot can come up with a strategy, but that real, long term, success is a matter of Execution, with a capital E. And the one and only discerning factor for Executional Excellence is ‘People’. A radical message in those days when faith in ‘Big is beautiful’, Strategy and planning & management, were the pillars our economy was built on. The idea of ‘People’ being the crucial factor for success was too far-fetched for most of the big corporates and major business schools did not teach ‘humanistics’.

A lot has changed since those days. The message of Peters and Waterman is now part of our daily routine, or, at least, we know it should be. Love your customer, love your co-worker, make room for action, try new ideas, create a culture based on values. If businesses want to excel in organizational effectiveness and thus Execution, one must focus on People.

This is something we all know now and if you want more proof, read Laszlo Bock’s ‘Work Rules’. What this VP for ‘People Operations’ explains is that ‘People’ is the secret of Google’s success. And with ‘People’ comes ‘Culture, Values, Ownership, Politics, Freedom’. Please note that all of these factors are soft, invisible, intangible and thus hard to put in management models and metrics. In line with P&W and Bock, we, at Kennedy Executive, believe that the ‘human factor’ is the key to organizational success.

Also, it is this human factor that makes our work really interesting and difficult. Since the metrics on ‘Culture, Values, Ownership, Politics and Freedom’ are not clear or fixed, we must rely on our intuition, solid interview methods, reference checks and our own experience. Also, to be congruent, within our own company, we have to live out our faith in People and make people our top-priority.

So, to finish with the subtitle, what is headhunting all about? Easy to answer when you’ve read the above: People! But this is only half the story, the other part is about us as Executive Search consultants. The cliché, ‘it takes one to know one‘, is of use here. As Executive Search consultant you cannot but embrace the values, you’re in search of and thus, this wonderful profession is an encouragement for personal development and growth. Which then, makes us all the same, candidates and consultants alike, we’re all in search of excellence!

Kennedy PartnersAugust 31, 2024