Recruiting A Retail CEO Often Comes Down To Gut Feeling

Furniture World Magazine

Retail boards of directors that otherwise demand discipline and objectivity when making key merchandising or management decisions are often the same ones that recruit top executives based on gut feeling, according to Joseph Carideo, partner with Thorndike Deland, a New York search firm known for its retail practice. Compared with other industries, Carideo said, searches for a retail CEO or president are frequently handicapped by vague job requirements as well as competing agendas among search committee members. Carideo said the sentiment, "We just think this guy is better," is a common conclusion to a search for a store president. "Instead of a judgment made after a disciplined effort to match candidates' skills and backgrounds with specific criteria agreed upon out at the outset, the directors will act subjectively. They resist a systematic search process by claiming it's time-consuming or doesn't take into account elusive qualities such as charisma or leadership." Carideo advises retail boards to take a formal approach to a top-level search: Identify the criteria for the new CEO and classify them according to which are absolute requirements and which are secondary but desirable. Assign a weight to each of the latter. Be as specific as possible in doing so. Don't be satisfied with "proven track record." Define what's sought - improved sales or margins or return on equity in a certain range. Decide at the outset what role testing will play. Each of the preceding should be determined by the head of the search committee and the search consultant, and then run by the rest of the committee before the process is begun. Finalist candidates should be scored in a matrix which takes into account the job specifications and the relative weight assigned to each. According to Carideo, by applying discipline at the beginning the board is forced to agree on its strategic priorities. "If the organization, for instance, plans overseas growth or has a turnaround situation, the candidate should have international or turnaround experience. It makes no sense to hire a CEO who has to learn on your time." A systematic, reasoned approach, Carideo said, can minimize the politics or disagreements that can occur later in the search process. "The aim is to smooth the process and ultimately to get the fight person for the job. A search committee chair once told me not to be 'too rational.' But that's my point. As with any major decision, it's necessary to be as rational as possible." Thorndike Deland Associates LLC is the pre-eminent search firm serving all segments of the retail and fashion industries. Thorndike Deland is a member of The Greenwich International Group, a consortium of executive search firms with offices throughout Europe.