The Work: Executive Recruitment

Client Profile

• US $4 billion global financial services institution
• US $2 trillion in assets under management
• Top three player in each region of the world
• A newly arrived CEO

Client Situation

The new CEO began his tenure with a publicly articulated ambition to double the firm’s revenues within five years, requiring a dramatic increase in the firm’s performance in Asia.

Incumbent leadership in the region was excellent, but needed help to achieve the next level.

The core question: why had it been less successful in Asia than in other markets?

Diagnostic Finding

Ascentador conducted its proprietary Diagnostic discovery process with a broad and diverse group of executives in the company.

Though our team observed an organization that was undeniably doing the right things, and “firing on all cylinders”, the leadership team was overly homogenous and uniform in its perspectives, attitudes, and backgrounds.

The Asia management team of the company was mainly comprised of long-tenured expatriate employees, with comparatively short ties to the region and its diverse cultures.

Ascentador Bespoke Solution

Our team approached the search process in a tailored and selective fashion with several key differentiating components.

1. Design a Custom Search Protocol

We designed and implemented a structured and controlled protocol for identifying and developing candidates who met a threefold requirement:

• Experienced and appropriately senior, in order to alleviate concerns about suitability for the role.
• An ethnic Asian, with operating experience in the West, which would enable him or her to capitalize on the untapped opportunities in the region, while still able to “speak the language” of associates at headquarters.
• A proven innovator and lateral thinker who had previously demonstrated the ability to see what other eyes had missed and to act decisively to capture such opportunities for the benefit of the organization.

2. Create a Level Playing Field

Given significant internal political concerns, our team involved a small group of internal candidates in a parallel process.

Although our client had not anticipated finding a viable internal candidate at the outset of this process, our assessment not only revealed previously unrecognized internal competencies, but ensured these employees found the process fair, inspiring and positive.

3. Facilitate the On-Boarding Process

Once the finalist candidate had been identified and accepted the role, the candidate went through an effective on-boarding and transition plan that was developed by Ascentador in collaboration with the client.

The goal was to ensure that the incoming executive was totally prepared to receive the baton before the incumbent took up his next assignment.

In very short order, the incoming executive had built effective relationships with headquarters and around the region, developing close and trusting working relationships with all key constituents and raising the Firm’s visibility in Asia.