How Does Human Nature Affect Your Ability to Assess Honesty in Candidates?
Have you ever met someone and instantly liked and trusted them only to find out later that you had been misled? Have you ever trusted your gut and later discovered that you did not assess someone correctly? Often, when we lack a well-defined evaluation process for...
Understanding Executive Compensation – When You’re Ready to Make the Hire
When recruiting C-Suite Executive Talent, compensation comes up early. After all everyone’s time is valuable, best not to waste it on someone who is not going to accept an offer that is not in your range. How can you tell if someone has unreasonable compensation...
JP Morgan 2023 – What I Learned
Nuggets from my 2023 JP Morgan conversations It was an optimistic outlook for the LifeSciences industry at this year’s JP Morgan and surrounding events. My conversations with Start-up CEOs, strategics, venture firms, PE firms, and Board Members yielded these nuggets:...
Why is it so hard to find the right CEO and what you can do about it!
Large companies can craft robust succession plans, while middle-market and start-up companies often need help developing successors. CEOs impact the company’s strategy, execution, and business and financial performance. Finding the right CEO is the board of directors’...
Brands Matter to Top C-Suite Talent – Make Yours Shine
You as a brand is a popular concept. It seems that people are embracing this concept and communicating their brand in their LinkedIn profiles, Twitter handles, resumes, and other social media profiles. How does this apply to the selection and hiring of top C-Suite...
Why “I’ll know it when I see it” is NOT an Effective Recruitment Strategy
We have all done it. We have an opening for a critical executive, and we get introduced to someone or meet someone at a coffee shop, you feel a little chemistry, and we think … “that’s the one for me.” So you hire them, and for about 6 weeks, everything is going along...
How to Recruit Great Candidates: Managing Candidate’s Perceived Risk
We have all experienced it – make the offer and boom, and your lead C-Suite candidate declines. WHAT??? How does this happen? After all, you got verbal acceptance, you checked references and the last thing you know the candidate was all in - or were they? Probably...
Identifying Fit in C-Suite Candidates
How do you verify in a phone interview how well an executive will get along with your team? You meet a great executive level candidate and you think that this person could really help you the results you need. You think to yourself, this person will get along GREAT...
What Investors Look For in Leadership Teams
I was recently asked to join an investor panel, we were presenting to other investors, about how we perform due diligence of a company’s management team. Investors, as you may know, evaluate three categories when considering an investment: The technology/service, the...
Five Attributes for the Ideal CEO
Whether you are running a consumer health company or a life science company, you need the strongest CEO possible to lead in this dynamic business climate. All CEO’s need to have deep expertise of their subject matter in the industry. Full life-cycle product...
Hiring Roadblocks: Back Door References
You are recruiting a Vice President for a key role. You have hired a search professional because you have run out of network. The senior recruiter has met your team, understands your company goals and objectives, and pulls together a targeted position description. You...
Does your Recruiting Process Produce the Right Results
We have all done it. We have said, “I need to hire a _____________”. We put the word out to our network, and find a few candidates to speak with, but no one really impressed us or seemed like the right fit. We keep searching or decide to make a hire from our “ho-hum”...
Hiring Exceptional Talent – Trusting Your Gut
In my role as executive recruiter, I hear from clients that the candidate they like just “has the right feel – and know in their gut.” This sounds great, but how can you be sure that this person will perform? When over 40% of external executive hires fail in the first...
Potential vs Capacity
Potential versus Capacity – Why we like to hire for potential, and need to make sure that the candidate has the capacity to succeed. Frequently, while initiating a search project, we get requests from the client like “we want to hire and ‘up and comer’ – or ‘high...
Assessing an Executive’s Ability to Make Decisions
Why are some executives considered great decision makers and others only good or adequate? Great decision makers know when to delegate decisions, understand the risk of not delegating decisions, and when it is critical to make the call themselves. These great decision...
VP Early Innovation Partnering Pharmaceuticals – Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Lesley is a senior executive with a 25 year track record bringing vision and passion to identifying and structuring strategic biotechnology business opportunities through an exceptionally broad range of transaction types. Experience includes more than 40 successfully...
Assessing an Executives ability to Make Good Decisions
Why are some executives considered great decision makers and others only good or adequate? Great decision makers know when to delegate decisions, understand the risk of not delegating decisions, and when it is critical to make the call themselves. These great decision...
Can you be a Successful CEO and Still be Nice?
I recently had lunch with a serial successful CEO (more than 1 successful company he led to significantly increased shareholder value. We talked about requirements for successful CEOs. I was curious, I wanted to hear his point of view. What was important to him. The...
Assessments – An Important Tool for Hiring – Which Ones Really Work and Why?
By the time we reach the executive ranks, we have all participated in assessments: DISC, Myers-Briggs (MBTI), Strengths Profile, etc. The problem with these assessments is that they are Ipsative, and unless the person has a high degree of self-awareness, these...
Vice President Corporate Development – Volta Medical
John is a serial CFO and medtech entrepreneur with a proven track record in the medical device and healthcare IT industries. Specialties: Corporate Accounting, Financial Forecasting, Strategic Planning, Equity Analysis, Fundraising (angel investors, venture capital,...
Using LinkedIn to Hire Executives
LinkedIn is a great tool all seasoned recruiters and hiring managers use to identify potential talent. But, like a resume, LinkedIn profiles are propaganda, not a list of accomplishments, results, failures, and lessons but rather a marketing tool, limited to career...