Eroding Ethics of Executive Search

Management consulting at the top-management and board levels often entails leadership assessment of inside and outside candidates by retained executive-search firms. Although colloquially called “headhunters,” this term is also used to describe contingency placement firms, which typically recruit and refer candidates at middle and lower management levels and use very little assessment, if any. Conversely, retained executive-search firms use relatively sophisticated tools and techniques to assess and evaluate internal and external leaders at the upper levels of management.

It’s not so much WHAT as HOW

Corporate titans facing serious jail time; ex-WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers leading the way to experience life behind bars; sobering laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, making ethics and values increasingly important components in every organization . . . .

Whence Ethics?

Our society is in the midst of an ethical crisis. Please notice that I said “society,” not “business community.” Despite the focus on recent financial scandals, virtually every sector of our society has had its scandals. Government, the press, entertainers, the courts, and even the church have experienced high-profile, ethical failures.