Essenta

I'm delighted to welcome Sarah Holland to the Essenta advisory team. Sarah brings a wealth of PE experience from her time at Egon Zehnder and deep expertise in leadership assessment and succession planning. She'll be partnering with me to help CEOs accelerate the performance of their most essential talent by making sure the right leaders are in the right roles - a critical problem to solve for any business on a significant growth journey.

Do you hire for “culture fit”? One of my biggest hopes for leaders in 2025 is that more teams start to hire for their cultural reality instead. “Culture fit” tends to mean choosing leaders who have a similar style. The diagram below shows a leadership team I recently assessed which has fallen exactly into this trap. Got a team like this of mostly sociable, nice and charismatic people? You can hire more of them, but that won’t necessarily get the business where it needs to go next. Hiring for cultural reality makes it much more likely that you’ll choose the right leader who is able to move the needle for the company. Here’s 3 ways to do it: 1. ⭐️Define the key leadership traits. Be honest about the top 3 qualities a leader needs to be successful in this role and team. On an integration journey where you don’t have systems and processes in place yet and things are chaotic and messy? You need leaders who are builders, have resilience and know how to prioritize amidst the noise. Make sure your search firm is crystal clear on the qualities that count. 2. 🔎Uncover the candidate’s true motivators. What gets a leader out of bed in the morning? Is it the intellectual challenge of solving tough problems? Or the economic security of being in a stable business that is a sure bet? Or the need to be in control and have a strong mandate to lead? Most assessment tools focus on behavioral style and don’t actually reveal this level of insight. Knowing a leader’s values opens up a much deeper conversation and ensures the leader’s motivation aligns with what the reality of the business and the role will ask of them. 3. 📈Be aware of how your team’s leadership needs to evolve. Does your team tend to backchannel because people are a bit conflict avoidant? Choosing a leader who naturally prefers to be direct will help balance the dynamic. Does your team need to become more strategic and get out of the weeds? Selecting for a leader who is a more systematic thinker and knows how to delegate will set a positive example. Know what you are trying to shift and seek out the leaders who can help drive it. What else have you tried that works? What should teams avoid doing to bring the right leadership on board? #leadership #hiring #management

Happy Chinese New Year! 过年好 🐍🧧🎇🀄   As China continues to play a pivotal role in global discussions, its AI industry has made significant strides at the start of 2025. It remains at the forefront of disruption, renewal, and the advancement of emerging industries. The Year of the Snake is governed by the wood element, symbolising growth, innovation, flexibility, and vitality. This year will be associated with wisdom, transformation, intuition, and strategic thinking. I look forward to spending an extraordinary year with my friends and trusted partners. #happychinesenewyear

✨Reflecting on 2024: A Year of Growth, Evolution and Celebration ✨ I’m incredibly proud to look back on everything we achieved together in 2024. It's been a year filled with milestones, both professional and personal. Things I am particularly proud of in 2024: - We made nine exciting new hires, welcoming incredible talent to our team - We made five promotions that highlight our commitment to fostering growth from within - We enjoyed our ninth consecutive year of double-digit growth - An incredible 67% of our revenue this year came from repeat business — a statistic that means the world to us. It reflects our unwavering commitment to going further for our clients, building trust, and delivering lasting value time and time again - We have also established ourselves as a truly unified talent advisory business. Combining data-driven insights with a uniquely deep understanding of our clients’ needs, we empower our clients to build and develop high-performing leadership teams - We welcomed three new babies into our extended work family! - We celebrated three marriages and two proposals - Most importantly of all, we maintained a culture that is collaborative, empowering, and supportive — a foundation that fuels everything we do Here’s to 2025 and all the opportunities, challenges, and celebrations that lie ahead! #Reflection #Growth #Evolution #Celebration #Teamwork #ExecutiveSearch #TalentAdvisory #2025Ready

We are delighted to announce the well-deserved promotions of David Purcell to Senior Partner and Tarek Sebiat to Partner.

I am delighted to have Katriona Windsor (Fraser) join the team at Essenta Kat will be an integral part of Essenta’s continued international growth by leading our GTM and consumer technology practices.   A timely arrival with the increase in GTM and growth orientated needs!  

Delighted to welcome two new team members to Essenta this morning. Alexander Maropoulos and Matt Parkin CertRP will be continuing our growth into the Real Assets, Property and Sustainability Markets. This is an exciting next phase of growth for the team and Essenta, which leverages our existing client base as we grow into adjacencies and support our clients through their development. Brilliant to have you both onboard!

I’m really thrilled to announce that I’ll be joining the brilliant team at Essenta . Starting in September, I shall be helping the team continue with the already fantastic work that they’re currently leading across the consumer and tech space, as well as continuing to support the marketing community. I want to thank Richard Segal and Lizzie Segal and wider team at Founders Keepers. It’s been a truly wonderful few years, giving me the opportunity to work with not only a fabulous team but also some of the world’s most exciting scaling businesses. For now, it’s a few weeks off for quality time with the family and fully recharging. Really looking forward to getting started again soon.

We are delighted to welcome Sophie Guest into our CFO & Private Equity practice!