Executive search
Executive search for the appointments that matter most.
Partner-led, in complete confidence, and with a view that reaches beyond your industry.
When clients call me
- A C-suite departure, planned or not.
- Rapid growth that has outrun the leadership team.
- A turnaround that needs a different kind of leader.
- A transformation the current team wasn't built for.
- A succession that has been postponed too long.
Mission-critical appointments
I am retained for the appointments on which an organisation's next chapter depends: the chief executive and the leaders around them, at the moments when the choice matters most.
- Mission-critical leadership.Roles in which the wrong appointment would materially alter performance, valuation or reputation.
- Turnaround and restructuring.C-suite leaders who have stabilised and rebuilt organisations under pressure, and can do so again.
- Cultural transformation.Leaders able to reshape how an organisation thinks and behaves, not only what it does.
- Growth, new markets and IPO.Executives who have scaled businesses, entered new markets or prepared a company for public ownership.
- Succession.Successors for the chief executive and critical C-suite roles, identified and benchmarked before the need becomes urgent.
Across the C-suite: CEO, CFO, COO, CHRO, CTO, CCO and divisional presidents. Industry-agnostic, by design.
How a search is conducted
- The brief.Together, we define the mandate, the outcomes required and the profile of the leader. No candidate is approached until you have approved the brief.
- The market map.The market is mapped comprehensively, within your industry and beyond it, and the top percentile of leadership talent is identified for your consideration.
- Weekly reporting.Each week, a concise written report: the leaders consulted, the intelligence gathered from the market, and any developments of note.
- The shortlist.A considered shortlist, with my assessment of each candidate and a clear recommendation. Quality, never volume.
- Appointment and integration.I oversee the offer, the notice period and the transition, and remain closely involved throughout the first six months.
Access
Fewer clients. A wider field.
Every search firm is bound by its own client list: executives inside the organisations it serves are, rightly, off-limits. The larger the client base, the more of the market is closed. Because I act for a deliberately small number of clients, very few leaders are beyond my reach, including in your own sector.
- Who leads the search
- A partner, supported by a research team
- Clients at any one time
- Many, across sectors and regions
- The field available to you
- Shaped by the firm's own relationships
- Who leads the search
- Andrew Finlayson, from first conversation to appointment
- Clients at any one time
- A deliberate few
- The field available to you
- Open, within your sector and beyond it
Available to you Off-limits: a leader at one of the firm's current clients Illustrative
Off-limits arrangements are standard practice and protect every client, including mine. The difference is one of scale.
"Andrew will challenge you as a client, push back on what you think you should be doing, in order to get to the heart of what really drives the brief. From there, Andrew is incredibly proactive. He has opened doors for us and introduced candidates that would never be in the public domain."CFO, London financial consulting company
Confidential market and talent view
A discreet appraisal of the leadership landscape, prepared in confidence: the foremost leaders within your industry, and the exceptional few beyond it.