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To explore the importance of the board of director nomination process (that is, who nominates a given director for a position on the firm’s board) for the voting outcomes, disciplining of management, and overall monitoring quality of the board of directors.

We exploit a recent regulation passed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requiring disclosure of the board nomination process. In particular, we focus on firms’ use of executive search firms versus allowing internal members (often simply the CEO) to nominate new directors to serve on the board of directors.

We show that companies that use search firms to find board members pay their CEOs significantly higher salaries and significantly higher total compensations. Further, companies with search firm-identified independent directors are significantly less likely to fire their CEOs following negative performance. In addition, companies with search firm-identified independent directors are significantly more likely to engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and see abnormally low returns from this M&A activity. We instrument the endogenous choice of using an executive search through the varying geographic distance of companies to executive search firms. Using this instrumental variable framework, we show search firm-identified independent directors’ negative impact on firm performance, consistent with firm behavior and governance consequences we document.

Given the recent law passage, we are the first to directly analyze the nomination process, and show a surprisingly large predictive effect of seemingly arm’s-length nominations. This has clear implications for thinking carefully through how independence is defined in the director nomination process.

Using data from a top-five global executive placement firm, the authors explore how an organization's financial misconduct may affect pay for former employees not implicated in wrongdoing. Drawing on stigma theory, they hypothesize that although such alumni did not participate in the financial misconduct and they had left the organization years before the misconduct, these alumni experience a compensation penalty. The stigma effect increases in relation to the job function proximity to the misconduct, recency of the misconduct, and an employee's seniority. Collectively, results suggest that the stigma of financial misconduct could reach alumni employees and need not be confined to executives and directors that oversaw the organization during the misconduct.

The search for top executives is fraught with pitfalls. Understanding them will set the process off on a strong footing and maximize the chances of a sustainable hire. This chapter examines three aspects of the search dynamic: “stakeout,” “trust-building” and the search consultant’s “ambassador role.” We reveal nine important insights. Has digitization made headhunting any easier? We correct common misconceptions and reveal the difficulty of approaching top executives with role propositions, the building of trusted relationships with clients, and the ambassador role of the executive search consultant. We examine the need for empathy and deep discernment in reading candidates. We next go more deeply into the full search process: the selection of the search firm, the search itself, the presentation of the chosen candidate and onboarding. We reveal points of attention for clients and candidates that underpin best practice.

An earlier form of this chapter by the author was published in Dutch in “Bestemming Boardroom: over zoeken en gevonden worden” (Boom, Amsterdam, 2018).

Many in the private and public sectors see headhunting as a “necessary evil.” A tour of investors, business schools, executive and supervisory board directors throws up unflattering descriptions. Accusations of “opacity” are probably linked to the industry’s duty of discretion. Other observers signal a need for improvement: “pumping the same names around,” “emphasis on reputation, not merit,” “lack of quality” and “low innovation.” The battle to professionalize is underway. We look at the avenues ahead for executive hiring, the demise of the “old boys’ network” and the need for diversity and sustainability in modern organizations. We present the difficulties of running a headhunting firm, and distinguishing factors of the best players. We argue that selecting a headhunter demands the same rigor as choosing a lawyer, and six areas of improvement for executive search firms. Unpacking the Spartan marathon to the boardroom, we reveal the surprising estimates of the number of new high potentials entering the market annually. We conclude by looking at possible blind spots on both sides of the hiring equation that can undermine company interests, and continue to examine the march to professionalize the executive search industry.

An earlier form of this chapter by the author was published in Dutch in “Bestemming Boardroom: over zoeken en gevonden worden” (Boom, Amsterdam, 2018) and in English (online) by the Amrop Partnership (2021) as “Destination Boardroom 3: Mapping the Executive Search World.”

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which gender is “done” in executive search. The authors uncover how the ideal candidate for top management is defined in and through search practices, and discuss how and why women are excluded in the process.

The study is based on in‐depth interviews with male and female Austrian, Finnish and Swedish executive search consultants. The authors study the ways in which consultants talk about their work, assignments, clients, and candidates, and discern from their talk descriptions of practices where male dominance in top management is reinforced.

The ways in which gender is “done” and women are excluded from top management are similar across socio‐cultural contexts. In different societal conditions and culturally laden forms, search consultants, candidates and clients engage in similar practices that produce a similar outcome. Core practices of executive search constrain consultants in their efforts to introduce female candidates to the process and to increase the number of women in top management.

The study is exploratory in that it paves the way for more refined understandings of the ways in which gender plays a role in professional services in general and in practices of executive search in particular.

Unmasking how gender is woven into the executive search process may provide openings for “doing” gender differently, both for consultants and their clients. It may serve as a catalyst for change in widening the talent pool for top management.

Research on gendered practices in executive search is extremely rare. The study provides new insights into this influential professional practice and its outcomes.

For a successful search, all members of the client–headhunter–candidate trio need to step up to the plate. How can clients better prepare for and engage in the search process? What are the current limits of client engagement and their rights vis-á-vis the headhunter? We explain why headhunting is different from recruitment, and why procuring executive search is as serious as other assets. We reveal the depth of questioning and bias management that it takes to reveal and attract the right candidate. We propose five points to build into the profile of the leader of the future. We next take a look at the clients of executive search firms – who come in all shapes and sizes. Van Eijck distinguishes four groups: multinationals, family businesses, private equity firms and public institutions. A tour signals points of attention for each group regarding a search process and some key points that apply across the spectrum – for example, how wildcard candidates can compromise a search process, the persistent problem of “no pay no cure” and why an appointment doesn’t always guarantee success. Finally, we move to the world of the executive candidate. Many make errors (also of judgment) when building their CVs. A seasoned headhunter can easily spot these. We present the keys to forging a robust story, working effectively with an executive search consultant and conclude with the features of the modern educational and work environment that can get in the way of a career.

An earlier form of this chapter by the author was published in Dutch in “Bestemming Boardroom: over zoeken en gevonden worden” (Boom, Amsterdam, 2018).

This paper aims to examine the potential for digital technology allied with industry experience to disrupt the executive recruitment process and transform executive search. To do this, it examines the pioneering steps taken by a leading executive search firm that placed supporting digital technologies at the heart of its business model, its search processes and its relationship management with clients and candidates.

Individual-level information gathered from the firm and other stakeholders.

The application of digital technologies is transforming the executive search process, providing particular benefits around accuracy, accountability and speed. This is true for all aspects of the process, from the initial mandate through to the eventual hiring decision and onboarding of the successful candidate. It is also true for all the participants as using these technologies changes the nature of the interactions between members of the search ecosystem, enabling them to create and contribute greater value to the search process. By embracing these new technologies, organizations are better placed to exploit future developments in technology, such as the metaverse.

The case study reveals how embracing and engaging with digital technology enables participants in the executive search process to use new tools and methodologies and maximize the value they contribute and obtain from the search process.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how chief executive officer values and ethics have been translated into what we now term corporate social responsibility in a stakeholder view of the firm.

To fulfill this purpose, the reflections of early business scholars on top management's impact on corporate social responsibility are examined and linked to more contemporary views.

In response to stakeholder expectations of corporate social responsibility it is the chief executive officer's values and ethics, moderated by managerial discretion, that frame the firm's actions and ethics.

The aspiring executive may evaluate the ethics of industries and firms against his or her own values to identify zones of greatest synergy, while the firm's executive search process can consider including an assessment of the fit of candidates' personal values.

This paper builds on the works of early management scholars to specifically link contemporary corporate social responsibility decision making with executive values.

“The concept of the professional manager, moving from company to company during a career, rather in the manner of a medieval mercenary captain in the service of a series of monarchs, was established earlier in the USA”