Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct, and Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent [Hardcover]

Joseph Daniel McCool (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2008

With demands on leaders at an all-time high and executive tenure at a record low, executive search consulting is positioned to gain unprecedented influence over who makes it to the leadership table and who doesn't. But little has been known about this powerful, invisible force that operates at the epicenter of the war for senior talent and global competitiveness, until now. In this rich expose, Joseph McCool pulls back the curtain to reveal how senior management recruiters influence compensation, workplace diversity, high profile CEO succession, organizational performance, culture, profits, and the very definition of leadership. He trains his investigative journalist's eye on the growing influence of this elite band of management consultants to expose the recruitment practices and exploits of some of the country's leading businesses-from Avery Denison and the Campbell Soup Company to Disney. Deciding Who Leads makes a hard-line business case for taking control of the executive recruitment and hiring process, laying out the new leadership mandate, best practices for recruiting senior talent, strategic priorities for hiring organizations, and tactical advice for making the most of executive leadership recruiting and management succession.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Shanghai Daily Besides offering useful information about search consultants, McCool also gives practical advice to companies on how to better cooperate with their consultants to find the best talent. (Shanghai D )

From the Publisher

With demands on leaders at an all-time high and executive tenure at a record low, executive search consulting is positioned to gain unprecedented influence over who makes it to the leadership table and who doesn't. But little has been known about this powerful, invisible force that operates at the epicenter of the war for senior talent and global competitiveness. Until now.

In this rich expose, Joseph McCool pulls back the curtain to reveal how senior management recruiters influence compensation, workplace diversity, high-profile CEO succession, organizational performance, culture, profits, and the very definition of leadership. He trains his investigative journalist's eye on the growing influence of this elite band of management consultants to expose the recruitment practices and exploits of some of the country's leading businesses--from Avery Denison and the Campbell Soup Company to Disney.

DECIDING WHO LEADS makes a hard-line business case for taking control of the executive recruitment and hiring process, laying out the new leadership mandate, best practices for recruiting senior talent, strategic priorities for hiring organizations, and tactical advice for making the most of executive leadership recruiting and management succession.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing (February 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891062467
• ISBN-13: 978-0891062462
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A collection of truisms, June 3, 2009

By 

Peter D'Autry "PDA" (Istanbul) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct, and Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent (Hardcover)

A Search Consultant myself, the book put forward some good idea's which it completely fails to work out. It is a book written for PR purposes rather than an attempt to give a genuine informed in-depth look of how, quoting the back-flap "the profession is charting the course of global business". Therefore it resembles nothing more than an parade of truisms.
An example is how McCool calculates the cost of a bad hire; I know the cost is high but the costs as claimed by the author are not substantiated, either backed up by any research or by detailed argumentation as why they are so high: the cost of a bad executive hire ranges from 10 to 15 times the annual salary of the executive (20% direct costs - 80% indirect costs). Why? How? McCool never explains or argues how he gets to such figures - his assertion this represents the cost is enough.
The "because I say so" argumentation underlies all claims made in the book. All follow the path where idea's which do make sense are brought forward, but are not worked out nor illustrated in a manner that goes beyond the writing of what looks like a quickie performed by a PR ghost writer. Still, the majority of the chapters are not as meek as the one where he tells a story of how a headhunter can be a "hearthunter".
Sigh.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book, with insightful content, April 28, 2008

By 

JQA (Herndon, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct, and Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent (Hardcover)

John Byrne wrote The Headhunters in the 1980's. It was, and I think still is, the best overview of the beginning and rise of the executive search consulting industry. Byrne was a bit hyperbolic for my taste, but still his book examined the personalities and firms well. McCool's book is not an updated history of the search industry and how it has evolved over the intervening 20 years. But that actually is the point.

McCool's book illustrates how 20+ years after that book the search industry operates pretty much the same way it did back then, and well before. McCool focuses on the influence search firms/consultants have in the business world. But I believe the true importance of this book lies in McCool's analysis of how search needs to/should evolve. For search consultants(disclaimer: I am one) who care about their industry I think this is a book worth reading and hopefully will be a call for the profession and its members to innovate an industry that has changed very little in the past 60+ years (are you listening AESC?). For those who revel in calling themselves, or being called, Headhunters this book hopefully will move you to rethink accepting that degrading title for your profession.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The 'power' behind the power......, February 3, 2009

By 

Rebecca Clement "Publisher, Soundview Executi... (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct, and Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent (Hardcover)

During the feudal days of kings and royal courts it was often said that the true power of the throne was the individual behind the throne - the kingmaker. It's not a stretch to draw a comparison between the kingmakers of yore and today's executive recruiting firm because both serve a nearly identical function. In the book Deciding Who Leads, contemporary recruiting expert Joseph Daniel McCool minces no words when he states that executive recruiters are the most elite and influential consortium of consultants in the world, who carry a lot of heft and sway in shaping the landscape of business as we know it. McCool shares his insider perspective to unveil how these individuals can influence everything from business management; succession planning; workplace diversity; corporate culture; executive compensation as well as defining the attributes of leadership on a macro scale. This eye-opening expose is both startling and sobering, which is why Soundview recommends this book. Additionally, McCool provides authoritative advice regarding the true cost of a bad executive hire upon an organization; as well as how to best utilize a retained search firm when needed and implement an executive on-boarding process to ensure success all involved. This book belongs in the library of every executive - and wearer of a crown.