EXECUTIVE SELECTION
Strategies for Success
Strong leadership is
essential for survival in today's competitive business environment. Yet it has been
estimated that from 25 to 75 percent of top executives hired today fail. Such failures can
cripple the organization and adversely affect its stakeholders. So how can senior-level
positions be filled with leaders who fit the bill?
The Center for Creative
Leadership has studied executive selection for years. Its researchers have interviewed
hundreds of executives, analyzed the decision-making styles of the people who make
selections, and studied the latest management and psychological literature on the subject.
Executive Setection draws on this research, and on the extensive experience of the authors
in working with top-level management, to offer a series of steps that decision makers can
follow to make better hiring decisions.
After detailing who should be
on the selection team, the book shows how this group of people can develop a systematic
way to look at the organization, its environment, the open position, and the candidate
requirements.The team thereby develops an image of the ideal candidate that can be used
throughout the selection process. Next, advice is given on the best way to develop a good
candidate pool and how to gather and use the right information to determine who should be
hired. Finally, Executive Selection makes recommendations that will help ensure the new
executive's successful transition into the organization and his or her continued
development. In all, these steps represent a comprehensive, easy-to-follow system that
takes the mystery out of selecting for success.
The book's strategies for
pinpointing the right person for the job apply to the selection of CEOs, officers, and
others in the executive suite. Executives, boards of directors, and HR. professionals can
use these strategies to improve their selection processes. Investors can use them to
assess the executive selections being conducted within companies of interest. And
researchers can use them to garner ideas for additional work in the field.
THE AUTHORS
Valeric I. Sessa is a
research scientist and director of the New Frontiers group at the Center for Creative
Leadership.
Jodi J.Taylor is president of
Summit Leadership Solutions in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Center for Creative
Leadership is an international, nonprofit educational institution whose mission is to
advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of
society worldwide. Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, it conducts research, produces
publications and instruments, and offers a variety of educational programs.
174 pages