Last week, I turned down a candidate who ticked every box
May 24, 2025
by Pierre COLLOWALD
In a world full of cracks—geopolitical, ecological, social—leadership isn’t just about strategy or know-how. Leadership must embody deeper qualities.
Last week, I turned down a candidate who ticked every box. Top school. Big titles. A career that looked like a straight line to the top. But something didn’t sit right. Not because of what he said—but because of what he didn’t.
No curiosity about the project, the strategy, the team, the N+1. No questions about the culture. Once upon a time, I might have moved him forward.
Today, I chose not to.
Why I pressed the pause
Because I now believe recruitment isn’t about checking boxes anymore. In a world full of cracks—geopolitical, ecological, social—leadership isn’t just about strategy or know-how. Leadership must embody deeper qualities.
The four traits I now prioritize
- Mental endurance – The stamina to navigate prolonged uncertainty and pressure.
- Strategic humility – The willingness to admit what you don’t know and to learn from others.
- Cross‑temporal, cross‑cultural bridging – The ability to align short‑term actions with long‑term vision across diverse teams.
- Ethical courage – The resolve to choose integrity over easy shortcuts, when cynicism and shortcuts seem so much easier than staying true.
Context matters more than ever
That’s what we look for now. And we pay more attention to context than ever—because no two clients are alike. Each company carries its own tensions and ambitions. Each moment in its life calls for a different kind of leader. What works in one culture might fail in another.
Our job, as Executive Search professionals? To sense that. To decode the unspoken. To bring forward not just a candidate—but the right presence. Someone who fits the story this company needs to write next. 😊
