Go beyond the customary assessment process
????The traditional internal assessment process is designed to assess a candidate in his or her current position, not whether the individual is great CEO material. Use that process as an entrée to a second round of references, which will add insights. When GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was planning for the departure of CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier in 2008, it supplemented its customary assessment with 14 interviews with internal executives who had worked directly or indirectly with all three internal CEO candidates. The questions were designed to assess the suitability for the CEO position, and feedback was shared with Garnier and the board. Now-CEO, Andrew Witty, while not the obvious choice at the time, emerged as a much better candidate than his competitors.
Keep it confidential
????We have seen stellar candidates drop out of consideration when their candidacy is made public. One solution to this problem: When referencing for CEO candidates, companies can ask knowledgeable industry insiders to evaluate a candidate for a potential director position, rather than the CEO spot, which encompasses many chief executive skills.
????Most large companies hire consulting firms to make sure they get a complete picture of a CEO finalist through references and, indeed, people offering references will often speak about a candidate differently to a board director than they would to a third party. In a recent CEO search we did for a Fortune 100 company, the board utilized a two-way process for conducting references where several referees spoke independently with both a director and the consultant.
????Hiring a new CEO will inevitably involve an element of risk. With instant access to information, companies must make it their mission to learn everything possible about candidates, before an appointment is made. That's the surest way to avoid unpleasant surprises the day after the big announcement or the pain of having the "real" story dribble out.
????Dennis Carey, Melanie Kusin, and Jane Stevenson are vice chairmen of Korn/Ferry International.