Practical advice for becoming a board member
We often have discussions with C-suite executives about their path to Board directorships. This pathway can be a lengthy process. The article below by Lisa Marsh, Marketing Manager at the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), provides some practical advice for individuals with Board aspirations. The executive career goal of becoming a board…
Mindfulness @work
Increasingly organisations are looking at mindfulness training to boost productivity and lower stress. Sandeep Chitale, the author of this article, has been a senior leader in the in the areas of Shared Services, Transformation and Outsourcing and has been practising mindfulness for the last 15 years. Sandeep is now consulting to Corporates, linking mindfulness training…
How to prevent yourself from failing in your next position
You have been through a lengthy (and likely expensive) search process and are thrilled with the high quality executive you have attracted to your organisation. But have you devoted sufficient attention to ensuring that they are successfully onboarded? Our colleague Henrik Brabrand discusses this important, yet oft neglected, aspect of the search process. Your transition…
Looking forward: Where the ever-changing CFO role stands
The Chief Financial Officer role requires a strong candidate able to lead the charge. But the qualifications needed and the route to get there is ever-changing. BlueSteps Executive Career Services Advisor, Debbie Ellis, discusses the status of the CFO position and the attributes needed to obtain a CFO position. Over the past couple of decades,…
Building personal relationships in a digital world
Use digital technology to enhance your relationships, not replace them with faceless and voiceless social media. Use video conferencing and teleconferences to engage with remote staff when one-on-one meetings are not possible, rather than risking disenfranchising staff via email. In today’s digital world, communication practices are greatly impacted by technology. A report released by Radicati…
Being mindful of your leadership default settings
It is important to re-boot your thinking when starting a new leadership role and not fall into the “this is what we used to do at my old firm” default! When you open your computer each morning, your email looks a certain way, your web browser makes it easy to get to your favorite web…
Can your succession planning strategy survive the first engagement?
Succession planning is difficult and many organisations simply don’t do it, don’t involve the right people or don’t set it in train early enough to mentor those on the way up. Soldiers often comment that no battle plan survives the first encounter with the enemy. The stakes may be vastly different, but the same can…
Global trends in the executive job market
Strong competition still exists worldwide for top executives, and they need to bring not only relevant skills, but also learning agility and thought leadership. BlueSteps, the executive career management service by AESC, released their 2017 Executive Career Outlook Report offering insights on global executive-level career trends. The new report collects feedback from management-level professionals, from…
Why business tomorrow will be very different to today
The theme of this year’s TRANSEARCH global conference was, Creating Tomorrow’s Business, Today. Executive Chairman Alain Tanugi in his opening address said, “This means exploring how to balance outside-in thinking with inside-out actions”. Or in other words, how do we foster excellence within our organisations, while managing our businesses through a world of disruptors? TRANSEARCH…
From steady state to embracing complexity: 12 ways leadership has changed in the last ten years
Remember when your business plan was the holy grail on market strategy? A good strategic plan defined the best way to achieve success, which relied on superstar recruits all reporting in to a leader who represented the hierarchy, often far removed from operational activities and the culture amongst the people involved in day-to-day production and…