The Science of Executive Hiring: Why Fit Matters More Than Qualifications
By Shawn Cole, Executive Recruiter & Cowen Partners Co-Founder — Shawn Cole is a trusted thought leader and premier authority on executive recruitment across all industries. As President & Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, Shawn Cole is a pioneering leader and visionary thinker in C-Suite recruitment, known for sourcing exceptional talent while unearthing all-new insights about today’s executives and industry leaders.
When a corporate executive takes a seat at the helm of a company, they’re expected to be there for the long haul. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case for an unusually high number of executives: Chief executive officer failure reached a five-year high in the first quarter of 2024.
As C-suite executive failures are costly in many different ways, experts are investigating why executive turnover has become such a problem, especially since these high-level leaders had enough proven skill to convince committees they were right for the job. In many cases, the surprising answer is a lack of cultural fit.
Why Executive Appointments Don’t Work Out
Data from the Harvard Business Review offers a few clues as to why executives have been departing top companies in droves. In the corporate landscape, about 40% of executives are outsiders, which means they originated from a different organization than the one they’re leading. Almost half of these leaders fail within 18 months of securing the position.
After studying over 320 executives from 36 companies, researchers found that most of these failures were due to poor cultural fit. That is, executives who aren’t already steeped in company culture have a hard time adapting to those around them.
A 1991 study published by Cornell University confirms that high levels of person-organization fit during the candidate selection processes were positively associated with job satisfaction and negatively associated with intent to leave and incidents of departure. In other words, those whose personal values most closely reflected that of the organization liked their jobs more and stayed longer.
Clearly, organizations that wish to keep executives in their seats and improve their performance should be hiring for both skills and cultural fit. The aforementioned Harvard Business Review study found that assessing for cultural fit resulted in 30% better performance among executives when this metric was measured two years in.
Fueling Executive Success: 3 Pillars of Fit
Hiring for cultural fit shouldn’t be a subjective process based on the feelings of individual selection committee members. Instead, leaders tasked with making the final decision about who gets the job should agree on an objective set of criteria for what constitutes “fit” and work from there.
This step helps to eliminate the possibility of biases tainting the selection process. For a more concrete understanding of what assessing for cultural fit entails, consider these three pillars that should be used when evaluating candidates for executive positions within the company.
1. Culture
Organizational culture — the values, beliefs, and norms that dictate how things are done — has a lot to do with shaping the everyday work environment for employees at all levels, as well as decision-making processes among visionary senior leadership.
For example, if your organization values creativity and innovation, you likely have worked hard to build a culture of open communication where employees feel comfortable sharing creative and even risky ideas.
Defining and articulating company culture is crucial in the executive selection process because it provides your committee with objective evaluation criteria.
It also ensures the candidate chosen for the role will fit well within the company, not just with some people’s personal preferences.
2. Behavior
Undoubtedly, culture will influence behavior. This means that you can tell a lot about the potential cultural fit of a candidate by their actions. For example, a leader who values trust and transparency will likely be highly communicative with their team and the organization as a whole.
There are a few ways to evaluate an executive candidate’s behavioral norms. A common one is asking questions about how they’ve handled particular situations in the past.
However, the process must not stop there. Conversations with colleagues and references, as well as behavioral assessments, can also offer valuable insights in the context of other information about the candidate.
3. Leadership
Understanding a candidate’s leadership style is crucial to assessing how they might work with the team around them.
An autocratic attitude toward leadership won’t sit well with a company or a team that highly values camaraderie, collaboration, and collective decision-making.
Personality assessments can help the committee with this evaluation, but it’s also important to listen for hints of a candidate’s leadership style in the answers they give in interviews and conversations.
This is an important piece of the puzzle in executive hiring, as it determines whether they’ll be able to get buy-in, influence and motivate others, and ultimately push the company toward its strategic goals and objectives.
Ensuring Executive Success: Cowen Partners’ Multistep Assessment Approach
At Cowen Partners, we employ a multistep assessment process to ensure that the candidates we bring to your team are uniquely fit for success in your organization. Here is an overview of what our executive assessment process generally entails:
- We tailor our search strategy: Our executive recruitment team defines the competencies needed for the position and determining cultural values, pinpointing candidates whose personalities are right for your company.
- We reach out to candidates: Our C-suite recruiters qualify candidates based on skills, experience, organizational objectives, and behavioral fit.
- We zero in on the best-fit talent: Leveraging a plethora of tools, like interviews and personality assessments, our executive recruiters gain a more robust understanding of each candidate.
- You select two finalists: From the final pool of qualified, best-fit talent, your search committee will choose two finalists, reviewing the available information with our executive recruitment team.
From a list of dozens — sometimes hundreds — of qualified candidates, we identify the right candidate within 30 days nearly every time. This is the power of refusing to ignore cultural fit as a primary driver of executive longevity and success.
Competency Is About More Than Just Skills & Experience
It is undeniable that corporate executives must possess high-level skills and leadership experience to reach performance targets. However, search committees must acknowledge that even the most skilled executives will not find success if their values and behaviors are at odds with the company’s.
When assessing for cultural fit, committees should start with an objective definition and understanding of the company’s own cultural values. Then, observe, ask about, and assess the candidate’s behavior and leadership style to determine whether they’re a good fit.
With this approach, companies will likely see less turnover and will experience the performance benefits that come with long-term leadership.
Top Executive Recruiters, Leading Experts in C-Suite Culture Fit
Cowen Partners is one of the nation’s leading executive search firms focusing on enabling companies to harness the power of human capital to fuel their success.
Giving clients access to the top 1% of human capital, Cowen Partners is an executive search leader, creating opportunities to accelerate growth and market share while helping companies grow at scale, create value, and drive results with world-class talent.
Cowen Partners serves clients across industries, including small and large, publicly-traded, pre-IPO, private, and non-profit organizations, with placements spanning the entire C-Suite and include CEOs, VP, and director level leadership roles.
As true innovators in executive search, Cowen Partners is also at the forefront of trailblazing novel resources that empower better insights, decisions, and understandings of what it takes to recruit and retain top talent in today’s C-suites.
Please explore some of our elite resources below to see why Cowen Partners continues to be a top executive search firm nationwide.
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