CEO have gone from generals to orchestrators, says the head of a leading executive search firm

He also talked about hesitancy in the job market, whether ageism is on the rise, welcome changes to succession planning in India, and how the age of AI employees is upon us.

Here are some edited excerpts from the interview.

You mentioned in a company blog post that CEO roles have become increasingly complex and even fraught, and that the notion of the sole, heroic leader is beyond passé. Why did you say this?

About 20-30 years ago in Western companies, the CEO was viewed as the hero. Today, it has become more evident as businesses become more complex that the CEO is an orchestrator, not a general. The CEO needs to bring along an entire leadership team and an entire company to drive a change. In the old days, the CEO was seen as the pinnacle of the pyramid. Now, to be effective, the CEO needs to work from the centre of the pyramid outwards.

How has business evolved for search firms like yours amid growing pressure for companies to get the right talent?

Over the past 10 years, pressure on clients from their investors and boards on getting hiring decisions correct has increased exponentially. Ten years ago our assessment business wasn’t in high demand. Now it’s the fastest-growing part of our business, because just as much as we're in the search business, we've also now in the retention business. That’s because of these forces that our clients are facing. Our coaching and mentoring business has grown exponentially because companies are focused on being very specific and attracting the best talent, but also keeping that best talent for as long as they can.

There is hesitancy in the job market even for the top searches. How are companies reacting to this?

We aren’t seeing a slowdown in decision-making anymore. Some time ago there was a lot of uncertainty as commitments to capital expenditure slowed down. But the biggest uncertainty this year is uncertainty about uncertainty. Once companies understood that the environment is going to remain uncertain, they built it into their planning. So while uncertainty continues, firms need to move ahead with their decision-making.

Has succession planning changed in India over the past couple of years?

Every market has its own maturity curve. In India, CEO succession has progressed from picking friends and family. It starts at least five years in advance now, with four or five internal candidates assessed and developed through coaching plans so they can be stronger candidates when the time comes. Meanwhile, the company also looks outside for comparable external candidates.

Globally and in India, are you seeing ageism creep in?

I think the firms have progressed over the past decade and there is a demand for senior candidates today. Take the case of Boeing’s CEO (Kelly Ortberg), who was appointed last year and is in his 60s. At the same time, younger candidates are given more chances to advance by at least two levels if they are viewed as high-potential. I don't think those two are working against each other.

How dramatically has AI reduced the need for human employees?

AI employees are agents with a name and a function and are treated by human resources as if they were a human employee. This just happened at a couple of the banks in the US.

There is great demand for leaders who aren't technologists per se but who understand how to incorporate transformation and new technologies in their work. We are also seeing leaders being asked to manage human employees and AI employees. That's a whole new skill set as well.