CEO Selection
CEO selection, one of the most important and challenging responsibilities of a corporate board, requires more than guesswork and probabilities because replacing an ill-chosen or short-tenured CEO leads to losses of millions if not billions of dollars in shareholder value, organizational confidence, and momentum.
Interviews, resumés, and references don’t provide the vital information needed to make one of the most critical decisions boards simply can’t get wrong. Boards need more than subjective opinions that can be both biased and wrong. Instead, directors require objective data and reliable feedback to help them choose the person who will have the most power in the organization.
When boards choose the right CEO candidate, they do the following:
- Protect the financial aspects of the business
- Establish the strategic direction for the organization
- Protect corporate culture
- Prevent the departure of key talent
- Avoid costly hiring mistakes—usually more than four times the CEO’s base salary.
- Build confidence among board members, employees, and other stakeholders that you have selected the best person to run the organization.
- Improve alignment of the board of directors
- Build confidence in the industry and among key customers
- Make legally defensible hiring decisions—thereby reducing risk.
The Henman CEO Assessment ™ offers a proprietary approach to CEO selection that combines comprehensive information about a candidate’s problem-solving and decision-making abilities, financial acumen, work-related personality characteristics, cultural fit, and leadership style. This highly validated, reliable approach ensures fairness to all and takes speculation out of the selection process with more than 95% accuracy.
In the best of circumstances, directors work diligently to anticipate the future, develop potential successor candidates over several years, and ultimately have one of them step into the top spot. But in emergencies there is a great sense of uncertainty as to whether the board is selecting the best leader or just the best leader available right now. The obvious choice isn’t always the right choice, and wrong moves become expensive. The Henman CEO Assessment ™ ensures that won’t happen.
With Dr. Henman’s guidance, our search committee recruited an exceptional CEO candidate who dramatically impacted our organization’s market capitalization in a matter of months. In addition, he quickly strengthened our global industry role, while driving enhanced levels of growth and profitability. Dr. Henman’s insights were critical to our success.”
—Glenn Kalnasy,
Board of Directors
Chairman, Succession and Compensation Committee
Belden Inc.
