A senior hire changes more than one seat. A new head of sales, a CFO or a site leader decides how a whole team works, who joins it and who leaves. When the hire is right, the effect shows within a quarter. When it is wrong, it takes a year to see and longer to repair.
It goes wrong more often than most founders expect. Research by the Corporate Executive Board, reported by the World Economic Forum, found that between half and seventy per cent of executives fail within 18 months of taking a role. Few fail loudly. Most struggle quietly, and the team pays for it.
Why senior hires fail
They were hired for the past, not the job ahead. A strong track record is the easiest thing to check and the weakest guide. Results achieved with a bigger team, a known brand or a different market do not move with the person.
The fit with the founders and the team was never tested. Pace, how decisions are made, how much freedom the role really has: these decide whether a leader succeeds, and a CV says nothing about them. Most senior hires that fail do so on fit, not on skill.
Nobody defined the role. "Grow the business" is not a brief. If the company cannot say what this person must achieve in the first twelve months, the search will find someone impressive rather than someone right.
The first months were left to chance. A leader who joins without a plan, a sponsor or early wins loses the team's confidence before they have had time to earn it.
How to get a leadership hire right
Write the scorecard before the search
List the three or four results the role must deliver in its first year, the decisions it will own, and who it will work with most. Agree it with everyone who will interview. It becomes the test for every candidate.
Search beyond the people who apply
The leaders you want are mostly in roles they like. They will not see a job post and will not apply to one. Map the companies and roles where such people work today, and approach them directly and in confidence.
Assess how they lead, not only what they did
Ask for real decisions: one that went wrong, one that was unpopular, a team they built from nothing. Ask what they would do in your first ninety days. Speak to people who worked for them, not only to the people they worked for.
Let the right people meet them
A founder or the CEO, one future peer and, where it is possible, one future direct report. Three views catch what one interview misses.
Plan for the notice period and the counter-offer
Senior people in India often serve notice periods of 60 to 90 days, and their current employer will try hard to keep them. Stay close to the candidate from offer to first day. What to do when your candidate gets a counter-offer.
Plan the first ninety days before they join
Agree the early goals, the people they must meet in the first month, and who will support them. Check in at thirty, sixty and ninety days.
How we help
We run leadership searches for heads of function, directors, VPs and CXOs, working directly with founders and top management. Every search starts with the scorecard, and every candidate we recommend comes with a written fitment note on how they lead and why they fit your team. How a leadership search runs.
Source: World Economic Forum, "4 common reasons half of all new executives fail".
