How does a company go
about hiring a CEO? A Globe
and Mail article recently explored this topic. Its premise was that one
should not meet with the job candidate until one decides to make a firm
offer. The reason for this is because we, unconsciously or not, allow our
subjective biases to dominate and influence our decisions. We may make calls
based on a person's height, weight, gender, skin colour, accent - the list goes
on and on.
This is a compelling
argument, but I find it wonderfully theoretical and totally
impractical.
In my 27+ years as a
consultant, I've spoken with many Board members who have struggled to find the
right, the very best, CEO to manage and lead their company. Decisions have been
made, based on thorough and thoughtful examinations... and swiftly regretted.
Some companies prefer to hire from within, selecting known individuals; others
choose to lure top performers from similar
organizations.
It's critical for
hiring committee members to remember that a CEO (or other senior executive) can
prosper in one organization or role, but fail ignobly in another. Success in one
environment does not guarantee identical or superior results in
another.
So whoever is in the
recruitment decision-making hot seat must be able to assess not just the past
performance of candidates, but other indicators as well. For instance, how nimbly does the
prospective CEO interact with others? How do they comport
themselves in relation to others?
I believe that these
assessments can only be done in face-to-face meetings where the interviewer can actually utilize their discretion and judgement about the candidate from what they see, hear, and intuit. Combine this with objective measurements and 360 interviews to enable one to test assumptions raised by this data.
I will accept that we
cannot refute biases that may lead us astray. But biases are one thing; our own
experience is another. Subjectivity really matters. It can be a great respecter
of diversity. Let's give credit to our powers of
subjectivity.
