Every Executive Has Four Faces. Which One Are You Hiring?
A CEO can have an exceptional track record, outstanding references and perform brilliantly throughout an interview process.
And still be the wrong appointment.
Not necessarily because they have misrepresented themselves, but because the person they believe themselves to be, the person colleagues experience and the person who emerges under pressure are not always the same.
There is a popular saying, often attributed to Japanese philosophy, that every person has three faces. A modern variation suggests four. Its historical origins are uncertain, but the idea raises an interesting question for boards, CEOs and Managing Partners.
How much do we really know about the executives we appoint?
The first face: The professional
This is the person we meet during an executive search.
Confident, articulate, commercially accomplished and usually very well prepared.
Experienced executives understand how to present their achievements, explain difficult decisions and communicate a convincing vision for the future.
There is nothing inherently misleading about this. Professional presentation is itself an important leadership skill.
The difficulty is that an excellent interview tells us how someone performs in an interview. It does not necessarily tell us how they will perform as a leader.
The second face: The person colleagues experience
Ask an executive to describe their leadership style and you will frequently hear familiar descriptions: collaborative, empowering, decisive and commercially focused.
Ask the people who have worked alongside them and the answers may be rather different.
Do they genuinely welcome disagreement? Share credit? Develop successors? Listen when someone challenges their judgement?
A leader's reputation among peers, direct reports and former colleagues can reveal dimensions that formal interviews rarely uncover.
The third face: The person under pressure
Success can make almost anyone appear capable.
The more revealing moments often arrive when circumstances deteriorate.
A major client leaves. Revenue falls. A transformation fails. A board loses confidence.
Does the executive remain measured and accountable, or become defensive and controlling?
Past performance matters enormously, but understanding the circumstances behind that performance matters just as much.
An executive who succeeded with a strong brand, generous resources and favourable market conditions may face an entirely different challenge when those advantages disappear.
The fourth face: The person they do not fully understand
Perhaps the most difficult face to assess is the one the executive may not recognise themselves.
Someone can sincerely believe they encourage independent thinking while consistently surrounding themselves with people who agree with them.
Another may consider themselves decisive when, in reality, they struggle to tolerate uncertainty.
These contradictions are not necessarily evidence of dishonesty.
They are reminders that experience, intelligence and seniority do not guarantee self-awareness.
And the higher someone rises, the fewer people may feel comfortable challenging their assumptions.
What should boards and hiring committees do differently?
At C-suite, Managing Director and Partner level, assessing professional competence is usually the more straightforward part of the appointment.
Understanding judgement, motivations, behaviour and the conditions in which someone performs best is considerably harder.
It requires examining decisions rather than simply achievements, exploring failures as carefully as successes, and speaking with people who have experienced the executive's leadership in different circumstances.
No executive assessment can uncover every aspect of someone's character, nor should it attempt to.
But an appointment process should recognise the difference between the executive who interviews well and the leader the organisation will experience every day.
Perhaps the most important question in executive hiring is not simply whether someone can do the job.
It is whether we understand who they become when doing the job gets difficult.
#ExecutiveSearch #Leadership #CEO #ExecutiveAssessment #BoardLeadership #SuccessionPlanning #CgrahamConsulting
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