By Christopher E.D. Graham FCIPD -CGC For much of the last two decades, private equity operated in unusually favourable conditions. Low interest rates, abundant liquidity and rising valuation multiples meant strong returns could be generated as much through financial engineering as through operational improvement. A firm didn't need to transform a business to make money on it; it simply needed to buy well and sell into a rising market. That environment no longer exists. Highe

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP “Technology can help us recruit faster. It cannot make us recruit fairly. That responsibility still belongs to us.” (A note on scope: this article concerns itself with recruitment in the United Kingdom. It draws on current UK employment legislation, recent guidance from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, material published by the Information Commissioner’s Office, and a quarter of a century spent working across executive

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP - CGC During more than twenty-five years working in Contingency recruitment, retained Executive search, Recruitment Process Outsourcing and in-house Talent Acquisition, there is one question I have probably been asked more than any other. "What is the difference between your company and all the other recruitment firms?" It is a perfectly fair question, and one I still rather enjoy answering, mainly because the honest answer takes longer th

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP There is a moment in most executive careers when people realise that leadership is not primarily a test of intelligence. Nor is it entirely a test of technical expertise, strategic frameworks, operational scale, or how confidently somebody can say the words “digital transformation” while pointing at a slide containing several upward arrows. Eventually, leadership becomes something far more uncomfortable. It becomes a test of temperament. T