To the second of our Talent Management Breakfast series yesterday - a fascinating breakfast for clients and friends to meet Professor Adrian Furnham from UCL.  A rather brilliant psychologist whose new book – The Elephant in the Boardroom (Palgrave Macmillan) – raises the questions of our dark sides and whether an otherwise positive characteristic can become destructive if one has “too much” of it.  For example, empathy is a highly regarded trait in a leader but too much of it may lead to inadequate management of poor performance.  He made the interesting point that many promotion or appointment panels look to include in various talents and skills but do we do enough looking for and then weeding out destructive behaviours?  He marvellously told us that there are some 23 American CEOs currently in prison - and yet integrity is the most highly desired attribute in a boss!  Another gem was that the single most important determinate of success might just be intelligence – but can we imagine giving candidates for CEO positions simple intelligence tests?  Much to think about for our clients but also for my own leadership in the business – I will be asking our in-house psychologists to test me with the Hogan Assessment to explore my dark side (and no it’s not a new Pink Floyd album).

To the V&A on Tuesday for our annual summer drinks reception. A spectacular setting as always, to enjoy talking to friends in the entrance hall under the Dale Chihuly chandelier. This year we also used the newly redesigned Medieval & Renaissance galleries which even included a new indoor waterfall feature. It was enjoyable to see so many friends of the firm: from bankers to Bishops, VPs to Vice Chancellors, Dames to Directors as well as clients (old and new). Conversation ranged from the economy (of course), the coalition, oil spills, the World Cup as well as the Tracey Emin sheds in the V&A garden – a must see.

 

We will be 25 years old next year and look forward to celebrating our silver anniversary at the V&A once more.

At last my obsession with new media finds a spurious business justification – a Permanent Secretary is following me on Twitter! Have been musing that there were three changes of government before I was twenty four and only two in the thirty one years since (not sure I should reveal my age quite so accurately). Makes me realise that when I was growing up change of government seemed quite ordinary and now seems rather exotic – maybe not for long.

Fascinating dinner mixing big private sector and government insiders showed the range of views you might expect but also real engagement with the issues facing the electorate. I’d guess the turn out will rise this time. Personally I can’t not vote when I think about what women had to go through - not all that long ago - to win the right in the first place.

 

When I worked with IBM many years ago the talk was all about the paperless office…seems like a rather bad joke now. Most of us still seem to be drowning in paper as well as going down for the third time trying to keep up with emails. Perhaps we should offer a Nobel prize to anybody who can solve the question of handling the tidal wave of emails in the modern world. Looking at them only a few times of day (current advice a la mode) doesn’t cut it if you live in a fast response world. Delegating reading your personal email to others seems over-grand and Victorian. And yet and yet.

 

Living one’s life entirely on a laptop including looking at papers on them not only doesn’t solve it but also cuts across the human interaction needed in meetings – recently went to one panel session where clearly about 5 folk around the table with laptops open were actually doing their email and not reading the paper for the discussion.  Any advice oh readers- please email us at maestros@saxbam.com.

 

It was great to hear a number of our clients speaking about a range of topics at last week’s Executive Grapevine conference, the annual conference for talent management professionals. Despite the varied mix of sectors they represented, the enthusiasm for the work they were doing, the scale of the challenges many have faced, and the positivity for the future seemed to be a common theme for most. The topic of “Daring to dream the dream again” and various presentations on organisational culture prompted some thought provoking debate, not least around matters such as positive discrimination and parental benefits. It left one feeling rather pleased that many of the speakers were from client organisations, given the variety of their leadership and organisational agendas.

Spoke recently on corporate governance at a discussion arranged by the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility, sponsored by KPMG. In response to the current slew of reports/codes/discussion on corporate governance, the Doughty Centre’s Professor David Grayson put it well when he said that “one size does not fit all.” The problem is that the reaction to the crisis has lead to an overreaction which aims to stop future crises – an impossible task. Read more here.

Spring is – wonderfully! – in the air at last, and the number of us here starting to cycle and run into work again is going up by the day. It’s great to be able to tie up our sports with doing some good in the world. This year we’ve got charity teams taking part in the London-Brighton bike ride, the Moonwalk (an overnight, walking marathon – not for the easily exhausted), the Edinburgh Marathon and the Swimathon for Marie Curie. Wish us luck with the training!

 

Enjoyed an evening with colleagues to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland last week - an interesting take on the storyline and visually breathtaking with some great performances.  Alice clearly has a special significance for us and we are finding that in today’s market the mantra of “it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place” (taken from Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking Glass') remains. It is all about keeping up the pace and continuing to do excellent work for our clients.

Is the electronic book going to replace the original version we are all used to? Hard to predict but at the launch of the Oxford Companion to the Book (ed Suarez and Woudhuysen) – a million words and two beautiful but hefty volumes – there were plenty of bibliophiles still committed to paper and top quality production values. It’s the product of seven years work (I know – one of the editors is my husband and it has dominated family life and the kitchen table throughout that time). Even though I am biased it is a magnificent achievement (and the reviews confirm that).

As Hector Sants announces his FSA departure, read what Karina’s Column had to say about him and about Joe Stiglitz, the controversial Nobel Prize winning economist who thinks that “to bet on a US default is weird.”

The blog is written by our very own Karina Robinson, who joined earlier this year to co-lead our board practice.

We were delighted to be joined by Robert Kovach, Director, Cisco Centre for Collaborative Leadership, at our first Talent Management Breakfast of 2010, which we hosted on Thursday. Robert is co-author of a new book “Talent Management – Strategies for Success” and as part of the launch shared with us some of his experiences from Cisco and the business impact their talent management strategy has had on the organisation. Thanks to Robert for some fascinating insights, and much that we and guests could take away and think about in relation to our own businesses.  

 

 

If the future’s bright, then its leaders certainly are as well. That is, if our recent inaugural “Future Leaders” evening last Thursday is anything to go by. We were delighted to host so many interesting and talented individuals here at our offices at our event for stars of the future. The evening offered our guests the chance to meet peers from a broad range of sectors and functional backgrounds, enough to say an enjoyable evening was had by all.  

A group of us went to hear our former deputy chairman Douglas Board’s fascinating lecture on the financial crisis and its implications for leadership – especially relevant for those of us who spend our professional lives finding and placing leaders. As those who know him would expect Douglas had attracted a large and eclectic audience. Full text is available at www.gresham.ac.uk

 

Delighted to sponsor a breakfast Seminar on Tuesday 12 January hosted by National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and The Guardian, at the Guardian Building in King’s Place, London. Greg Hands, MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, and a Shadow Treasury Minister spoke about the state of the economy, and more particularly about Conservative party intentions regarding the voluntary sector. The excellent turn out was indicative of the interest in the policy debate as we enter an election year. Mr Hands took wide ranging questions from the floor, which continued into lively discussion over the breakfast which followed.

Our last 'Advent at Home' event this week. A good opportunity to spend some time with clients and friends in the run-up to Christmas. It is always interesting bringing different groups together. It has been an amazing year for us; having our best ever year in the midst of this desperate economic climate. We are blessed with some amazing global commercial clients, brilliant University clients and the vitally important Government work we do.  

Fascinating to be in Dubai on the day Abu Dhabi bails out the debt situation - the only topic of conversation with the eight candidates I have come to meet.  Interesting how global almost all our searches are these days.

Decades ago (when I started work) breakfast meetings seemed a strange and faintly comic American idea.  We are all used to them now but what has been striking at our Winter Breakfast series, where we have been discussing 'proven strategies for challenging times' with a range of contacts - helped by friends from Stanton Marris and the Berkeley Partnership, has been the quality of debate and the real pleasure in taking time out of the day-to-day pressures to think about difficult issues with a group of clever and successful people.

 

Just back from an excellent course at Kellogg business school in Chicago, where they somehow manage to cram about half of an MBA into the space of just under a month.  The tuition and content were, as you would expect, top notch; and the attention to detail in making every aspect of our stay a pleasant and productive one was relentless.  Perhaps some of the most useful learning I took away from it all was not from the classroom at all though, but from my classmates, who came from a very diverse mix of nationalities, backgrounds and age groups.  We explored our differences, but to a much greater extent, discovered the similarities of the challenges we face and the importance of having the very best people and the right networks in place to turn these into opportunities rather than obstacles. 

 

To the Royal festival hall to see Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers play bluegrass. Interesting how surprised we are to find that Steve, one of the funniest men on the planet and the writer/director/star of one of my top three movies of all time, is also an accomplished bluegrass player. And yet why should one not be able to play across many different spaces? It reminds me how in our own business clients tend to think of us only for the last work they saw us do well, for instance, if a client from the FTSE top 3 uses us they may not recognize we lead the field in University recruitment and vice-versa.  As with Steve Martin, the important thing is for us to be good in all the different fields, rather than worry about having equivalence of reputation in them perhaps. So we will keep picking up different executive search banjos and keep enjoying them!

 

Last week saw the arrival in reception of a rather innovative new clock, designed and built by a friend of mine.  The premise is that instead of a clock face with two hands, there is a single ball, which sits on a slow moving spiral, and heads slowly from the bottom to the top every twelve hours before dropping through a hole and starting its journey again.  One is able to tell the time by the distance of the ball between two numbers on the spiral.  Sound complicated?  It’s actually beautifully simple and after an initial period of head scratching, it does become a highly intuitive way to read the time.  What I really enjoy about this is how a clever, fun and well executed creative idea can bring such pleasure.  We were able to have our clock made in our company green, and if you visit the office around 12pm, you may find a small grouping of Saxbam staff members gathered around waiting for ball’s twice daily drop at midday.  Like a catchy song or a delicious meal (or a great piece of search?), something done creatively and well can have a lasting impact.  Learn more about the ‘Aspiral Clock’ here, http://www.aspiralclocks.com/, and make sure you have a peek next time you frequent our offices.

 

Spoke at an interesting conference for Government recruiters this week.  Some very good questions and serious concerns but struck by how unsure many are about their ability to negotiate with or question consultants.  Admirable concern for propriety can get confused with hiding behind cumbersome procurement processes. 

Interesting conversation with Gaby Hinsliff, who is just leaving the Observer, about the eternal dilemmas facing working mothers (facing parents I suppose but the heated debate still tends to be around the mother’s role).  I now have the luxury of taking the long view having two adult children but it reminded me how all consuming the challenges can be at earlier stages – I don’t have any rules other than not to worry about it all too much!

 

 

To a drinks party this week at the Imagination Gallery in the West End to celebrate the phenomenal career of David Potter (a long term friend) as an entrepreneur.  Stepping down from Chair of Psion he will of course be keeping busy with the Foundation that he and Elaine, his wife, have established (www.potterfoundation.com/).  Particularly loved the funding recently announced about investigative journalism and mentioned to David it reminded me of our work some years ago with Donald Woods on investigative journalism in Africa.

Very much enjoyed the pictures of David at various stages of his career.  In today’s world of the blackberry and iphone, the invention of the Psion handheld seems to have been prophetic in itself but it was rather the continued reinvention of David’s business from software to handhelds to mobile telephony that fascinated me. I am doing a good deal of thinking at the moment about personal reinvention for senior executives – more on that another day…

I used to worry that we in Britain did not have the American culture that if you made money you had a moral obligation to give it away – as Andrew Carnegie said: "the man who dies rich dies disgraced".  But increasingly we are seeing great entrepreneurs act in this generous way. Apart from David and Elaine’s Foundation I have been particularly struck recently by the work that Rod Aldridge is doing through his Foundation (www.aldridgefoundation.com/) for disadvantaged young people.  Thank you David and Rod for the example.  Given that Carnegie was British before conquering American business we need more home-grown entrepreneurs to follow their role modelling!

 

 

Just back from a week visiting some clients in New Zealand with Lilias Bell who is my partner in our firm there. Some similarities with how the UK feels.  For example visiting the most senior civil servants and hearing how the watchword is 'value for money' and 'doing more with less' although the public debt picture there is less gloomy than our own.  One fascinating thing there has been the recent appointment of a non-diplomat to head the equivalent of our Foreign Office. We have liked John Allen for along time and it will be interesting to see how he gets on. 
Click here for a recent interview with him.

By contrast I went to a terrific drinks evening for customers hosted by ASB bank where the newly recruited Chief Executive, Charles Pink made us feel proud as a firm by making an excellent speech.  ASB he said was now rated as on of the top 20 banks in the world for credit rating and was in fact lending to small business and individuals as actively as before the crash.  More of that in the UK please.

 

 

Thinking a little further about the total commitment that New Zealand as a community has to its rugby team, the All Blacks, you could be forgiven for thinking that it must be a very macho society.  Everywhere you go there are massive advertising pictures of the players (although the current ones of Dan Carter for underwear do raise some traditionalists’ eyebrows...)

 

And yet, it was the first country in the world to give women the vote (in 1893); had the first female Mayor anywhere in the British Empire that same year and in the last century consecrated the first female Bishop in the Anglican Church worldwide when Penny Jamieson was consecrated Bishop of Dunedin in 1989 – 20 years later and we are still waiting for that in our own land of equality.  Go figure.

And on important matters not as much complete confidence that the All Blacks are going to win the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand as I would have expected – but that hasnt stopped me marking the time out in my diary. We like the thoughtfulness of the rugby authorities in arranging the fixture list so that it will be possible to celebrate Saxton Bampfylde’s 25^th birthday on September 8^th that year and still just make it to the opening game!

 

 

 

Arrived in Paris last weekend with excitement and no small degree of relief, having spent three days in the company of 30 fellow-masochists cycling from London to raise money for Cornwall Hospice Care.  The weather was merciful, the company excellent and our fellow – motorised - road users courteous and patient (central London and Paris aside). Altogether, we managed to raise a brilliant £65,000 for an extremely worthy cause. Reflecting on what made the ride so enjoyable, I had to take my hat off to the organisers – Charity Challenge – for the detailed and meticulous planning that had clearly gone into creating what, for those of us on the trip, felt like effortless efficiency and execution.  Also a clear correlation between those who had the most fun, and those who had put in the hours training over the months leading up to the event. Useful lessons to be remembered.

Last Friday was the start of the Jewish New Year and we will be greeting our visitors for the coming week with apples dipped in honey which is the traditional symbol of good wishes for a sweet new year for everyone. It is good to be reminded in our secular and digital age that this simple act of with others can bring a smile and a sense of lightness and joy. We all used to talk about the ideal of combining high-tech with high-touch for the 21^st century and yet it seems ever easier just to fall back on the high-tech and not to take the time. If we are allowed New Year's resolutions for the Jewish New Year let's aim to make this a high-touch year.

Invited to speak at a Cabinet office seminar at the National School for Government at Sunningdale.  On a sunny late summer day it doesn’t look very different from the old Civil Service College, although no-one was swimming in the outdoor pool. Interesting to speculate on whether there is still an appetite for organisations to have their own colleges with the usual trappings of country houses and pleasant grounds. Our much missed former colleague Douglas Board has set some of his recent novel in a place very like Sunningdale and anyone interested in the distillation of his wisdom on leadership should have a look at http://www.maslowsattic.com/ - so much of corporate training is about the building of bonds within groups who work together and learn from each other and you can’t do that by virtual means. Or not yet.

A weekend of cooking for family parties makes the start of the working week seem a pleasant rest from chopping and washing up. But by the end of the working week planning the weekends cooking seems increasingly attractive. Perhaps so long as you always want more time for work when you are there, and more time for home when you are there, the balance is as good as its going to get.

To Westminster Abbey to give thanks for the firm's 23 years in business, prior to a celebratory breakfast. Whilst we were there the excellent Dean, John Hall, kindly showed us the restoration work on the Cosmati Pavement. Such a privilege to see this 800 year old piece of work which is also the very spot where our monarchs have been consecrated for centuries. Reflecting on the impulse of the original Abbott in 1268 to create it and wondering how many of us see each day of our lives as an opportunity to create something beautiful – even whilst we are at our office desks for those of us who are not artists! Then to our birthday breakfast. It is wonderful to see the firm operating with a maturity and confidence that is right for a 23 year old, reflecting back we did some sums and came up with:

               - 500,000 candidates intreviewed

               - 6 FTSE top 10 clients

               - 3 Investors in people awards etc

               - 5000 + projects completed

               - 40 charities supported

And yet the joy of seeing the pavement for the first time (its been hiding under a carpet for 150 years) or the new faces of this years graduate recruitment programme is knowing that each day is a fresh start and a fresh canvas on which to paint.

I was thinking today about lessons from the Ashes cricket series (well it's a good excuse for watching the games!). We are often asked about inspirational leaders. My own experience after 30 years of top level headhunting is that charismatic genius leaders are few and far between and that what works is talent allied to an element of human humility, mixed together with a relentless focus on culture and strategy. In Andrew Strauss and Ricky Ponting you arguably have some good cricket examples. Both can be somewhat quiet and self-effacing in interview and yet each in their own way leads from the front with the relentless focus on performance (their own and others) that we so often seek in business executives. Let's come back to lessons from sport in future entries as there are so many to chose from.

Interesting article in July’s McKinsey Quarterly. They interviewed 14 CEOs and chairs from various industries about managing in hard times. Key takeaways include: confront reality; put strategy centre-stage at board meetings; be transparent with employees; build and protect the culture; and keep faith with the future. Something in there for pretty much all our clients I feel. It has been hard for most businesses to keep strategy central to the board agenda when simply surviving into the next quarter seemed almost too hard. The best of businesses have been keeping strategy central whilst taking the immediate action of cost-control, cutting and rebasing divisions. For example, it was remarkable for the Innocent Drinks founders to carry through obtaining a strategic investment from Coca-Cola in the midst of these tough times – and then to use that money to turbo-charge international development was laudable. Great example of keeping the strategic focus uppermost. Great smoothies too.

 

Whatever happened to big strategic ideas? One of my bright young things was asking me for some business books to take on holiday. Leaving aside replies including how sad a request that was or was this a bonus-enhancing question, it did raise the question in my mind of: isn’t it a long time since there was a really good new idea?

 

I loved 'Good to Great' and re-reading it, it still feels ok. 'The World is Flat' – on re-reading isn’t it a ‘no kidding Sherlock’ thought? I liked 'The 10 Strategies of Recession Management' – but all reasonably common-place. Have you heard any great ideas recently?

One of the highlights of this summer was the London to Brighton bike race. We entered a team for charity – bit of a change for us as we have done the Edinburgh marathon for the last few years. Is running easier than bike riding? We had 18 folk entered last year for the Edinburgh marathon but only managed 10 for the London to Brighton. Nevertheless they braved the course, the elements and the lack of food and drink stations when you needed them to all get safely there and raise a good sum for the British Heart Foundation. One of our team – the genius, wonderful and perhaps slightly crazy Jonathan - is also planning a 150-mile solo ride to raise money for a hospice. .Watch this space for more.

Off to Cambridge to take part in a symposium on corporate governance at The Judge Institute. You might think the subject had already been done to death but went along to celebrate both 20 years of the business school at my old place and also to see what fresh ideas there were.

Great seminar led by a Harvard Economics Professor and moderated expertly by Ian Davis of McKinsey. Overall sense was that we’re not fully out of the woods economically by a long way economically so keep focussed on your business!  My piece was with two academics of whom I am fond. Especially John Roberts who has written research reports for us in this area.  He lifted his hem and showed a little of some new work he is doing on what makes a constructive rather than a purely governance board. My own view is that this is significantly a function of size – if you are a FTSE 100 then you will spend more time, inevitably, on compliance and risk issues than if you are a FTSE 350. But obviously the right chairman helps and a number of those there maintained that their boards were very constructive - I pondered this further on the train back wondering if my own board is either of these or both depending on the topic.